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Approximately sixty games through the 2022-23 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks — who are currently riding a league-best 12-game win streak — look like a well-oiled machine. At 41-17, the team owns the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and the NBA, behind only the Boston Celtics.
However, while the Bucks have run roughshod over the entire league the past few months, that's not to say they're a perfect roster — every team has at least one fatal flaw, no matter how dominant.
But to be clear, that flaw isn't on the defensive end.
The Bucks have arguably been the best defensive team in the NBA this season. They rank first in the league in defensive rebounds per game (37.6), second in defensive rating (109.3) and sixth in points allowed (111.6). It's certainly no secret why the Bucks are a staunch defensive ball club — they have three of the best defenders in the league at their respective positions: Jrue Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Brook Lopez.
Milwaukee's fatal flaw is on the offensive side of the ball rather than the defensive side of it. And the Bucks should aim to fix this flaw after the All-Star break if they want to win an NBA title in a few months:
1 fatal flaw Bucks must fix: free-throw percentage
Free throws are the easiest points in basketball. There's a reason why the word “free” is in the term free throw. But some teams have an easier time making free throws than others, even at the highest level. And unfortunately, Bucks fans have seen more misses at the line than almost any other fanbase this year, as the Bucks rank 29th in the association in free-throw percentage at 73.8%, better than only the Memphis Grizzlies at 71.8%.
Ironically, the Bucks have plenty of excellent free-throw shooters, though. Khris Middleton is shooting 93.2% from the charity stripe, Grayson Allen 90.4%, and Holiday 86.8%. The Greek Freak's 64.6% clip from the line has the team at the bottom of the league in free-throw percentage.
To say that Antetokounmpo accounts for a large percentage of his club's total free-throw attempts is a massive understatement. For perspective, Antetokounmpo takes, on average, 13.0 free throws per contest, the most of any player in the NBA (Joel Embiid is second at 11.6). The entire Bucks team averages just 22.9 free throw tries, and no Buck aside from Antetokounmpo even gets to the line three times a night.
Because of the down season that Antetokounmpo is having from the line — even by his not-so-lofty standards —, the Bucks will likely see a hack-a-Giannis strategy during the playoffs this spring. And it's not like the Bucks can just take Antetokounmpo out of a playoff game to combat this strategy — he's arguably the best player in the world. That's a big part of why Antetokounmpo's confidence in his free-throw shooting needs to grow between now and April. Being the superstar that he is, he will inevitably have to take and make many clutch free throws for the Bucks to win the whole thing.
Antetokounmpo's inefficiency from the line thus far in 2022-23 is disappointing and has certainly cost the Bucks some games considering how often he earns trips there. Still, there is reason to believe that the Greek Freak can rectify his free-throw percentage before the season's end because he has had stretches of impressive efficiency there in the past. After all, just one year ago, he converted 72.2% of his free throws during the regular season, and two years ago, he shot 17-for-19 in the championship-clinching win against the Phoenix Suns.
Here's to hoping that Antetokounmpo re-discovers his free-throw touch in the final quarter of the season. Even a one- or two-percent increase in his percentage before the playoffs start could help dramatically raise the Bucks' overall free-throw percentage. Antetokounmpo may never be a great free-throw shooter, but if he can be a solid one for the next few months, the Milwaukee Bucks have as good of a chance at winning the title as anyone.
