The Milwaukee Bucks include a player in AJ Green who refuses any chance to dunk. Now they’ve got a player in Jericho Sims who refuses almost any shot but a dunk. The yin of Green’s ground-based 3-point game and yang of Sims’ paint-based attack nicely sums up the Bucks’ new ability to win with different styles.
“We’re both very fast and we try to take advantage of that,” said reserve guard Kevin Porter, Jr., a trade deadline pickup from the Clippers of his relationship with Sims. “We definitely point out the emphasis of drags, drags, drags, more drags so we can get that lob because he’s a great screen setter and lob threat.”
Sims, acquired at the trade deadline from the New York Knicks, threw down two highlight alley-oops in Thursday’s 126-106 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers. They were a visible contribution in addition to his quieter but still appreciated work: 11 rebounds in just 17 minutes, plus effective defense that limited the LeBron-less Lakers to 106 points despite 45 from Luka Doncic.
Sims harbors no delusions of an offensive game beyond the rim. This season, 94% of his shots have come inside five feet. And most are dunks – 37 of his 45 made baskets are throwdowns.
What’s changed slightly with the Bucks is that more of those dunks are alley-oops. He has six in his 12 games, compared to six in 39 games with the Knicks. It’s a glimpse of coach Doc Rivers’ plan for the physically gifted Sims, an echo of his Lob City Clippers teams that he coached, with Sims in the role of DeAndre Jordan.
Porter Jr. mentioned how different a style he plays from starting point guard Damian Lillard, and how different Sims is from starting center Brook Lopez. When the reserve duo spells their older teammates, the team loses 20 years and gains an uptempo style from players versatile enough to switch effectively on defense and put more pressure on the rim in their offensive attack.
Thursday’s game showed that the Bucks, at their best, can combine their older and newer elements to great effect. Lopez, Lillard, and Giannis Antetokounmpo anchored the starting unit, each scoring over 20 points. Porter Jr. led the reserves with 22 points in just under 17 minutes.
“When we put the pieces together on both ends, you know, it’s, it’s gonna be very hard to beat us,” Porter Jr. said. Tonight, it was definitely good to see, you know, on both ends that we were very high efficient.”
Up next: a home game with enormous playoff implications against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night, followed by a home tilt with NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.
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