With Duncan Robinson still on the bench with a sprained ankle, the Bucks packed the paint against the Detroit Pistons, played zone and dared anyone to beat them from the outside.
The Pistons hoisted an uncharacteristic 43 attempts from long range but only made 14 of them. The Bucks were actually worse, but the Pistons went away from their strength and lost the battle of points in the paint, which has rarely happened this season, and that was with Giannis Antetokounmpo (new pipe dream for Pistons fans) out.
The Bucks played zone defense for much of the game, something NBA teams can rarely get away with, as most offenses are too good and just find holes to exploit or shoot over it.
Detroit went for the latter strategy last night but couldn’t knock down enough 3-pointers to win a game that they definitely should have won after building an 18-point lead. Their lack of killer instinct partly stems from the fact that they can’t make enough three-point shots to keep teams honest, a problem that gets worse with Duncan Robinson out.
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The Bucks may not have even been able to run zone at all had Robinson been in the game, as he would have likely shot Milwaukee right out of it, but with him out, the Bucks were happy to let anyone else shoot at will.
Cade Cunningham, Caris LeVert and Daniss Jenkins were happy to oblige but went a combined 3-of-20, which isn’t going to happen on most nights, but it’s still telling that the Bucks were happy to let the Pistons shoot 3-pointers as long as they weren’t getting into the lane.
Detroit has plenty of capable individual 3-point shooters, as Robinson, Stewart and LeVert are all over 40 percent, and Tobias Harris is just over 38 percent. The problem is that other than Robinson, none of those guys shoot a high volume, and teams see letting them shoot a 3-point shot as a win defensively.
Teams aren’t scared to let any of these players shoot, and Robinson is the only one that creates any kind of spacing. If we’re being honest, Robinson is the only real shooter in the rotation.
The Pistons will need some internal improvement, especially from Cade Cunningham, who has been abysmal from long range this season, shooting under 30 percent on over six attempts per game. He’s the only player other than Robinson shooting a high volume, so he has to be better.
But Detroit will also need to address this issue at the trade deadline, as it’s a real weakness that is going to get exposed in the playoffs, or any time Duncan Robinson isn’t playing.