It's not going well for the Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks are 1-4 and the vibes are bad in Milwaukee

Everyone in the NBA knows the pressure is on the Milwaukee Bucks. They’re old, expensive, and laden with superstars, and now have a 1-4 record on the season.

Not good! After playing pretty well against the (also struggling) Sixers in their opening game, they’ve lost four straight. Worse, they’ve been run off the court, losing by 23 to the shorthanded Grizzlies on Thursday.

Khris Middleton remains out, but their problems run deeper than that. Their attention to detail in general has been rough — they play poor transition defense, they lose out on loose balls, and they stray from the plan on offense. For all the pressure they’re under to win, they play like a tanking team does in April.

What’s weird is that Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to dominate. He’s averaging 30 points and shooting 65 percent from the field. He looks more polished than ever running pick and rolls. He is impervious to what’s going on around him.

His chemistry with Damian Lillard, though, simply has not been there. Too much of their respective offense is separate from each other — inexplicable with how well their skillsets fit together.

The Bucks waste a lot of time early in possessions with Brook Lopez moseying up to set a super-high ball-screen for Lillard:

You’ll notice that there are 12 seconds on the shot clock there. Lopez worked to flip his body on the screen, a way to create separation, but what’s the point when you’re standing 35 feet from the rim?

And Giannis is hanging out on the wing, doing nothing. It’s not a play that’s creating any new dilemmas for the defense, or forcing them to question their coverage. It’s exactly what the defense is prepared for.

Watch how that play turns out:

Zach Edey is supposed to be slow! Lillard finished that game shooting 1-for-12. At 34, he’s not breaking away from defenders like he used to.

Lillard’s shooting is still there, and defenses honor that. Even if he isn’t getting to the rim the same way, the Bucks should be able to bank on the threat of his bombs combined with Antetokounmpo’s downhill force. Instead, Dame and Giannis are not acting in tandem enough.

There are flashes. Consider this, from the first few minutes of the Memphis game:

Giannis runs into a dribble handoff with Lopez — forcing Edey, with his feet in the paint, to switch to Giannis. That means Edey’s in a tough spot once Lillard receives another handoff. Step up, and now Giannis is behind him.

The important thing here: the defense is not expecting this. It’s easy for teams to load up on a simple Dame-Giannis pick and roll. Some teams can switch it. Others switch it then scramble, daring Giannis to post somebody up and pass out of a double-team.

On the play above, there’s flow and movement. The defense is indecisive. The Bucks don’t run offense like this nearly enough.

Just as their offense lacks cohesion, their defense has no obvious identity — no guiding principle behind what they’re doing. They leave Lopez alone in drop coverage too much. Nobody on the team is capable of guarding quick superstars (or, you know, Coby White). Giannis’s impact feels muted.

Part of it is scheme. They used to force ball-handlers to their weak hand and sell out to protect the paint.

It’s also personnel. They are, collectively, quite slow. Pat Connaughton has lost a step. Lillard gets hung up on screens all the time. Bobby Portis has been rough. (Portis’s on-off numbers are ghastly.)

The Giannis trade rumors have begun. It’s too early for all that, but the questions will dog them until they look like a more coherent team.