Bucks Stay Unbeaten in the NBA Cup: Kuzma’s Emergence, a New Starting 5 and More Giannis Dominance
Milwaukee Bucks survive overtime thriller against Charlotte Hornets to stay perfect in NBA Cup play. Kyle Kuzma’s career night in his first start raises questions about Doc Rivers’ rotation moving forward.
Justin Garcia and Camille Davis break down Kuzma’s season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s masterful 18-assist performance that created 14 three-pointers, and the team’s dramatic rebounding turnaround after halftime. The hosts analyze concerning turnover issues—22 giveaways leading to 31 Hornets points—and examine how Milwaukee’s elite shooting efficiency (59% from three, 10-of-10 on corner threes) overcame those mistakes. Discussion covers the Bucks’ NBA Cup standings, Ryan Rollins’ clutch rebounding in crunch time, and the strategic lineup adjustments that sparked a plus-36.5 net rating with Giannis, Brook Lopez, and Kuzma together.
Can Milwaukee maintain this offensive rhythm against the Lakers on a back-to-back while cleaning up the turnover problems?
0:00 Intro
1:52 Kon Knueppel’s breakout performance and Wisconsin ties
5:06 Knueppel’s massive ticket distribution and local support
6:51 Kyle Kuzma moves to starting lineup
11:12 Kuzma’s improved finishing at the rim
16:00 Rebounding improvements and defensive adjustments
21:07 Giannis’s 18 assists and offensive efficiency
25:54 Hornets’ competitiveness and turnover issues
32:12 NBA Cup point differential rules discussion
36:13 Lakers back-to-back matchup preview
39:48 NBA Cup group play standings breakdown
41:30 Giannis-Turner-Kuzma lineup dominance
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27 Comments
One starter change, looking for one more. When KPJ returns, we shouldn't see Green in the starting lineup
you cant have bobby out there with 3 other guards or you get torn apart, and btw does anyone miss Prince? I didn't thing so
MT, GA, RR, KPJ and Kuz or a trade made to fill that role, but Green and Trent have been highly disappointing in the starting lineup. They add solid shooting off the bench.
We have to figure something out with our bench. I'm thinking mixing more starters with a couple bench pieces. Doc is over playing entire bench units as if he's running the lineup from last year when we ran a completely different offense. They also don't have KPJ to lead them.
Play Sims more and I love Kuzma in the lineup
Let’s hear it for Kuz! I wrote him off early, and he has stepped up BIG time. We need the length and athleticism, another board crasher for Giannis to pass to when he’s attracted a crowd.
Remember, teams that rely on the 3 need to work inside-out before they can go outside-in
I was at the game last night, 3rd row, and here are my takeaways:
1. Kuzma is legit and should continue to start
2. Gary Harris’s length is underrated and although his +/- doesn’t suggest it, his minutes were impactful
3. AJ Green (who I have championed religiously) hurts us with his size and I think Doc needs to not play him alongside Gary Trent Jr. stagger their minutes as much as possible!
4. The pop for when Knuppel had a breakaway dunk was insane. I knew he was popular but it literally was half of the 200 section that stood up.
5. Giannis, as much as, I love him, is a horrible communicator on defense. I watched countless possessions where players were looking to him to determine his assignment, and he just ball watched, and let a play fall apart. I’ve watched him phone it in defensively far too much and I really miss having guys like Khris and PJ Tucker who communicate and hold him accountable. He either needs to step that up, or we need to find a defensive general like a Marcus smart who is VERY vocal.
6. Never been this close to the floor in my life. These guys are huge and move so fast.
7. KPJ’s size is sorely missed.
8. Going into OT, we were shooting over 60% from the field and 54% from 3, and we were tied??? Watching Charles Lee constantly coach his guys and direct the floor vs. watching Doc stand with his arms folded and arguing with the refs was telling. Our offense is awkward, and our defense of having 2 collapsing big men and our undersized guards having to play zone against perimeter shooters, is so easily exploitable because the big of the other team can just position themselves in rebounding position as our bigs collapse, and no one on the wing can box out without leaving other shooters open. This system needs to be adjusted. We have the personnel and should be able to try other schemes when that’s not working.
The one thing I noticed was Charlotte waited for the Bucks to close out. As soon as they did….they drove past them repeatedly. For some reason the Bucks didn't figure it out. Honestly I would have played a higher amount of zone
OMG where did the beard go? Im shocked Justin 😱
Stop with the Kuzma trade talking haters. Who you gonna trade for….Get fucking real
Green needs to go on bench, quack Rivers is over playing him, he only scores for 1 minute, the other 25 minutes he’s useless
Can someone dive into the bucks defensive rating in the zone vs man to man. I can’t stand when they play that zone against high level playmakers like Ball.
Giannis and Kuzma Duo is : SCARY, as Scary as when Pelicans had Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, two Great Scorers, Two Great Towers and Forces.
Let me tell you this Giannis and Kuz are even scarier cause if the Bucks plays at Kuz Speed in Fast Break, you have 2 of the best and quickest Fast Break Bigs in the League which at full speed does a lot of damage,
if they can continue feed of each other like they did against Charlotte man this puts Bucks on another Level with even way better Expectations and Goals they can reach even this year.
People dont realize how Fast Kuz is and there so many times he runs and is alone, he just needs the ball, send it he will have a lot more dunks and easy lay ups and will get warm up to shot 3s and jumpers faster.
I believe Rollins, KPJ once back are capable of being the great passer Kuz need like he had with the Wizards, remember Wizards was the fastest and almost always top 3 fastest team in fast break for many years with a great passer like Tyus Jones was for them.
I 've been saying it but Kuz years and Growth in Wizards were underatted, now all the work and growth he had is paying off big time
and Bucks need to continue playing faster so Kuz can get you 18 to 22 Points per game.
Kuz was doing it with Beal and Portzingis averaging 23 points and Kuz 22 points, so he can replicate it for sure if Bucks plays faster and use Kuz and Giannis chemistry, they are very similar in many ways and can be the Batman and Robin duo for this team ^^
The Best Line Up tonight was by far was 4 th quarter Rollins, Giannis, Kuz, Turner and Harris .
Harris from that game alone because of his defense and great IQ proved he needs way more minutes and could potentially get in starting line up or even close games if he continue playing that way.
I say this cause This Line Up Gets you 3 Great Defensive players , with Rollins, Kuzma and Harris , 3 players who can harass opponents, this Line Up give you 3 Big Defensive Towers which if they play their cards right can be a huge Problem and end all Rebounding issues once for all, Kuz being the Glue to get way more rebounds and bring more communication around the paint area.
Man this was a Reference Game, I saved it , it was beautiful, now all the coaching has to do is repeating everything that as been working in that game and even double down on it, and correct what s been wrong.
And please Give Pete Nance is minutes he can rebound, shoot 3 which you ll need specially in that 2nd unit or if 3 point shooters like Green, Gary Trent have issues, even though Myles Turner should help avoid long moinutes without scoring 3's that may happen,
in that case they should just go to the paint collect more fouls.
Man so Excited from what I saw, big shout out to Coach Rivers and all the coaching staff the work they did is paying off and they are being way more reactive and do implement the necessary change faster which is needed to collect more wins 🙂
Justin and Camille,I said this yesterday and I said this morning and y'all are repeating what I said. The Bucks shot fewer shots than the Mavs and that's why they almost lost. I mentioned it the other day. Last night again the Hornets took almost 12 shots than the bucks and that's why they almost lost AGAIN. I said to was coaching. Doc Rivers needs to be like hey, I need those shots up. THIS IS COACHING.
The all bench line ups are just brutal.
If Bucks win the East, they would win the NBA championship.The problem is the East!
I called for Kuz job. He’s proving me wrong. I still need to see it consistently. His effort, his confidence and cutting etc. Has been awesome. I’m texted him and said “I see you.” Also Justin stop trying to diminish the steals. Steals are steals. Stop it
Without Giannis we lost to the Hornets with Kuz starting. With Giannis back that .333 team took us to overtime. I like what Kuz is doing lately but would like to see how the next month plays out. A split with the Hornets and eking out a win over the Mav’s, both bad teams, shouldn’t be such a big thing.
Oh, and size paid off on defensive rebounding but the Hornets had twice as many offensive rebounds and they tied total rebounds.
Since Kuzma got here we all kept talking about how he and Giannis need to play minimal minutes together. We were all wrong. Sure it does spread the floor but these 2 guys cutting and moving, these 2 gaining synergy
Giannis could get a 100 free throws a game and still be lucky to hit 60, he just needs to learn to shoot them without thinking about it for 25 seconds
Always want the win. But for care about the cup.
Agree with everybody Green is a role player off the bench. Too many weak D on bench (Anthony, Bobby, and when KPJ comes back AJ Green). Offense is competitive but D and rebounding need to improve. Doc made Kuz snd Sims changes to address rebounding and D so lets see.
14 three point assists has to be the league high so far… maybe even a career record for Giannis
Does anyone have access to those leaderboards? I’m trynna see something…
I'm happy we won. But I would be even more happy if we beat the Lakers and go on the run.
IT'S ABOUT DAM TIME SOMEONE HEARD THE LINEUP NEEDS TO CHANGE!! MY GOODNESS!! WHAT TOOK SO LONG?? STOP IT WITH THE KUZMA LOVE ALREADY!! HE'S DOING WHAT HE HAS TO DO TO STAY IN THE LEAGUE!! THE WAY HE PLAYED LAST YEAR THERE WAS NOWHERE ELSE FOR KUZMA TO GO BUT UP!! HE WAS ROCK BOTTOM AS A PLAYER LAST YEAR AND WHEN HE PLAYED WITH THE WIZARDS!! SO LET'S JUST WAIT ON THE KUZMA APPRECIATION ALREADY. THAT INCLUDES ROLLINS TOO!! YOU HAVE BEEN HYPING HIM UP TOO!! JUST PUMP THE BRAKES PEOPLE!! THIS TEAM IS BARELY IN THE PLAY IN AT NUMBER 7!! SO STOP ALL THE HYPE OF THESE DUDES UNTIL THEY START WINNING MORE CONSISTENTLY. JUSTIN AND CAMILLE ARE BOTH VACATIONING AT DISNEYLAND WITH THIS LOCKED ON PODCAST. THEY IGNORE A LOT OF THIS TEAMS LOUSY PLAY!! THEY ARE HOMERS TO A FAULT!! NONE OF THESE BUCKS PODCASTS ARE STRAIGHT FORWARD!! WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BARRETT'S BUCKETS?? HE WAS THE BIGGEST HOMER OF THEM ALL BUT HE WAS AT LEAST A REALIST AT TIMES WHEN THE TEAM DIDN'T PLAY GOOD!! LOCKED ON BUCKS TRY TO GLOSS OVER STUFF TO MAKE THE BUCKS LOOK BETTER THAN THEY REALLY ARE!! NEWSFLASH LOCKED ON WASN'T EVEN CLARIFYING FOR THE LINEUP TO BE CHANGED!! JUST MORE GLOSSING OVER THE BUCKS SHORTCOMINGS FROM JUSTIN AND CAMILLE AGAIN. THAT'S MY TIME BUT I WAS LOCKED ON BUCKS WAY BEFORE I GOT WIND OF THIS PODCAST AND WILL STAY LOCKED AS LONG AS GIANNIS IS LOCKED ON BUCKS. WHEN GIANNIS UNLOCKS I'M LOOOOOOOOOOOONG GONE!!!!
IS ANYONE WATCHING THE LAKERS GAME?? THAT'S WHY I SAY WHAT I SAY IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!! THIS TEAM AS A WHOLE DOESN'T CUT THE MUSTARD NIGHT TO NIGHT!! DOWN 30 AT THE HALF!! WHAT HAPPENED?? WE PLAYED LAST NIGHT AND WE TIRED!! THE LAKERS PLAYED LAST NIGHT TOO SO NO EXCUSES!! LOCKED ON BUCKS DON'T EVEN TRY TO GLOSS THIS ONE OVER IF THEY DON'T COME BACK AND WIN IT WHICH THEY PROBABLY WON'T!! LUKA IS GIVING OUT LESSONS AND THE BUCKS ARE PAYING FOR THEIR LEARNING!!
I’ve seen enough of this team, they’re awful!!
This is what happens when your GM doesn’t know what he’s doing!!
Terrible drafts, trades, and signings have turned team Giannis to crap!!
Bucks need a new direction and vision, this team is terrible!
New GM and coach are needed desperately!
Trade Giannis while he has trade value!
8 playoff victories in his career, why?
Giannis needs coaching and needs to play power forward, not point guard!!
Excuse after excuse after excuse equals no credibility!
Justin needs to stop making excuses as this team is destined to finish below 500 and future looks dim!!!