Winners and losers in the Bucks first win of the season

The Milwaukee Bucks entered their fourth game of the year against the Indiana Pacers on Monday looking to finally pick up the first win of the season. Fortunately, the search finally ended for the Bucks as they came out on top against the Pacers, winning 110-102. 

It was a much-needed win to help with the team’s confidence before they face a difficult stretch of games against multiple talented teams. Milwaukee trailed by 11 at halftime, but outscored the Pacers, 60-41 in the second half to help get its first win of the season. 

Here are the winners and the losers during the win at home. 

Winners

Tyler Herro

Herro continues his excellent start to the season with another solid performance against the Pacers, where he finished the game with 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists on 7-for-14 (50%) shooting from the field and 3-for-6 (50%) from the 3-point line. 

Herro has now led the Bucks in scoring in three of their four games, with this performance leading to a victory against his former AAU teammate Tyrese Haliburton. Herro did it all offensively, scoring at every level of the court efficiently and was able to get his teammates involved. We knew that Herro could shoot and score, but his consistency as a playmaker continues to grow and will go a long way for this Bucks team

Kel’el Ware

Kel’el Ware walked into the fourth game of the season as Milwaukee’s third leading scorer, despite not starting a single game. On a night where Myles Turner struggled, it was Ware who picked up the slack at the center position, leading the bench with 16 points and 14 rebounds while shooting 7-for-13 (53.8%) from the field.

He dominated the paint as all of his points came near the restricted area and provided a much-needed presence on the offensive in a game that once again came down to a close fourth quarter

Ryan Rollins 

It seems like Ryan Rollins is starting to get his rhythm after his performance against the Pacers Monday night. In his first two games, Rollins struggled, scoring a combined 20 points and shooting under 40% in both games.

He stepped in the right direction on Saturday against the 76ers, scoring 15 points while shooting 40% from the 3-point line. Rollins built off that solid performance with an even better showing, recording 19 points, two rebounds and four assists on 7-for-14 shooting and 3-for-7 (42.9%) from the 3-point line.

Rollins’ responsibilities have increased, especially with the departure of Kevin Porter Jr., but now it seems that he’s back to the Rollins we saw last year.

Losers

Myles Turner 

When looking for additional offense to help Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr., Turner was a potential option. In the first two games of the season, he had 11 and 12 points, but against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, he had zero. 

Turner came into the game against his former team looking to bounce back from that performance, but followed it up with a 6-point performance while shooting 2-for-7 (28.6%) from the field and going 0-for-3 from the 3-point line. It’s now back-to-back games where Ware has outperformed Turner by a wide margin offensively.

However, despite not impacting the game on the offensive end, he was still able to contribute defensively, recording nine rebounds, four blocks and one steal. He made it hard for the Pacers to score in the paint and finished the game with a +14 on the court, which led the team.

Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Jaquez has easily been the second-best player on the team through the first three games, averaging 20.7 points per game on 61.1% shooting from the field and 55.6% from the 3-point line. It’s the NBA, and you’re not always going to have a good game, and tonight it was Jaquez’s night. He ended the game with only eight points while shooting 4-for-13 from the field.

Kasparas Jakučionis even played a good portion of the fourth quarter down the stretch over Jaquez, as Jakučionis had a solid game. Luckily for Jaquez, the Bucks had big performances from other players to pick up the production even with his off night.