Tyler Herro’s absence left Milwaukee with a hole it never came close to filling Tuesday night, and the Bucks were blown out by the New York Knicks, 117-85, for their seventh straight loss.
The Bucks spent the night fighting uphill after another rough first half, and this one never turned in their favor. Milwaukee will now head into the second game of a back-to-back when it returns home Wednesday night to face the Los Angeles Lakers.
Herro’s importance was obvious from the start. Milwaukee entered the night already near the bottom of the league in scoring and efficiency, sitting No. 25 in points per game and No. 27 in offensive rating with Herro on the floor. Without its leading scorer against a physical Knicks defense, the Bucks had little margin for error.
That showed up immediately in the first half, where Milwaukee set a season low with just 34 points. No Bucks player reached double figures before halftime, and rookie Nate Ament led the team with seven points at the break. The shooting was cold across the board: Milwaukee went 13-for-42 from the field and 8-for-23 from 3-point range, numbers that quickly buried it in a deep deficit.
The final numbers weren’t much better. Milwaukee finished 30-for-79 from the field and posted its lowest score of the young season. Jaime Jaquez Jr. was the only Buck to top 15 points.
Herro’s value goes beyond scoring, too. He’s tied for the team lead in assists at 4.3 per game, and the attention he draws on offense opens things up for everyone else. Against a Knicks team that defended with force and discipline, Milwaukee simply didn’t have enough shot creation to keep pace.
The rebounding gap made the night even tougher. The Bucks have struggled all season to control the glass on the defensive end, and that issue showed again as New York piled up 70 total rebounds to Milwaukee’s 34.
Eighteen of those Knicks boards came on the offensive end, leading to 11 second-chance points. Milwaukee managed just four.
Even in a lopsided loss, there were a few signs of life from the bench. The Bucks got 44 bench points, with Kasparas Jakučionis leading that group with 11. Six different players scored, and Milwaukee had 35 points before head coach Taylor Jenkins pulled the starters for good around the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter.
Ament continued to give the Bucks something to build on. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from deep, marking back-to-back games in which he scored in double figures while shooting at least 50% from the field and 40% from 3-point range.
There hasn’t been much to celebrate during this skid, but Ament’s steady play and a more productive bench were at least a small bright spot in another rough night.
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