The Athletic: Giannis-less Bucks winning with a new ‘recipe.’ what’s been the difference?

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MILWAUKEE — It was probably closer than the Milwaukee Bucks would have hoped. And they might have been playing against a short-handed roster. And Jarrett Allen’s hook shot might have been one-tenth of a second away from forcing overtime.

But no matter how many qualifiers one might add to Wednesday’s game, or the team’s performance over the last three weeks, with a 118-116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Bucks — without Giannis Antetokounmpo — have now won eight of their last 10 games.

“It means a lot because we’ve been struggling all year, and we haven’t won eight out of 10 all year,” Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma (17 points, four rebounds, five assists) said. “I think we found a little recipe of how we need to play, and I think it’ll get bet better when we get fully, fully healthy, too.”

Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ two-time MVP forward, has missed the last 13 games with a right calf strain. The Bucks lost their first three games without Antetokounmpo following this most recent injury to drop to 3-14 on the season in games without him, but they have turned things around across the last 10 games.

“When you’ve lost a bunch of games in a row and the game gets tight, you start thinking about losing,” head coach Doc Rivers said following Wednesday’s win. “It’s human nature. It’s the same as tonight. We felt like we’re going to win this game somehow, like, you can feel that.

“Eight out of 10 is phenomenal with this group. With no Giannis, you take that all day.”

Even with the recent success, the Bucks are still only 11-16 without Antetokounmpo on the season. However, with a 26-31 overall record, they now sit just one game behind the Charlotte Hornets (28-31) for the Eastern Conference’s final Play-In Tournament spot.

Beyond the record, the team’s spirit is far better than it was at the start of the month, when the Bucks reached their season’s nadir with a 107-79 loss to the Boston Celtics and dropped to 18-29 on the season.

“Just getting better is what the vibe is. Trying to stack wins,” said forward Bobby Portis, who had 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. “We know the situation at hand — slipped down to, like, 13th seed, 12th seed at one point — so (we) wanted to just lock in on us.

“So much outside noise about trades, so much outside noise about everything else that doesn’t involve winning, it kind of puts a dark cloud over your locker room. It’s human nature to go out there and second-guess yourself. Human nature to be like, ‘Am I really gonna be here?’ You know what I’m saying? Now the (trade) deadline’s over, guys can just go out there and hoop and just play free and do what’s needed to win.”

For much of the last decade, winning eight out of 10 games wouldn’t be much of an accomplishment, but this season has been different as the Bucks have struggled mightily for the first time in many seasons. In winning eight of 10, the Bucks have put together their first and second three-game winning streaks of the season. Even winning both games in this midweek back-to-back was an accomplishment, as it was only the seventh instance in which the team had won at least two games in a row this season.

Across the last 10 games, many things stand out, but nothing has been more important than the play of the team’s two young guards, Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins. While both players are in the middle of what could be described as career-best seasons, they have not always been able to put together strong play at the same time this season.

While Porter was sidelined for 19 of the first 20 games, Rollins broke onto the scene and impressed alongside Antetokounmpo. When Porter returned, Rollins’ numbers declined, and both players struggled to find the space and opportunity needed to thrive.

Over the last 10 games, however, both guards have played at a high level.

• Porter: 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds,  7.9 assists and 2.7 steals per game, 53.5 percent from the field
• Rollins: 21.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, 48.5 percent from the field, 49.1 percent from 3

And it hasn’t been a situation where one guard needs to be off the floor for the other to thrive. Their ability to play off each other, especially in hunting out the best matchups to close out games, has been paramount to their own success, as well as the team’s success, during the last 10 games.

“I think the more that we’ve been working out together, getting some practice (and) some two-mans in, we’re just confident in those stretches,” Porter said of their ability to close games together. “We gotta continue to do it. There’s nothing like game reps at the end of the day. It’s been a long season, so we’ve had those reps early on, but we were able to learn from those reps, also. So, I think that’s what you’re seeing a little bit of.”