On Monday night, the Milwaukee Bucks picked up their first win of the 2024 preseason with a 111-107 victory over the Chicago Bulls. With five preseason games already underway, the Bulls decided to retain six starters – Ayo Dosunmu, Zach LaVine, Jalen Smith , Nikola Vučević, Coby White and Patrick Williams – to rest and let their younger players soak up most of the evening.

The Bucks didn't fare well in the first half as the Bulls held a 68-59 lead at halftime. However, in the second half, the starters saw their first preseason third quarter action and responded immediately, going on a 15-2 run in the first three minutes to take control of the game.

“It's hard, I have to say, we were pretty sure they were going to play all of their starters and you can see the guys' (disappointment),” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “Look, I don’t want to be outnumbered, but it was good for them to come together defensively and move the ball.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes. Damian Lillard scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and provided nine assists in 27 minutes. The Bucks' starters have played the most minutes in any preseason game so far. The Bucks play their preseason finale in Dallas against the Mavericks on Thursday.

Instead of rehashing the details of Monday's game, we'll try something different.

To highlight what's happening with the team, we'll touch on three things — a game, a player and a trend — that stood out in the first week of preseason action in hopes of showing you what's happening on a micro level to the macro, with the Bucks in the preseason.

We will try to do something similar regularly throughout the season. So feel free to let us know what you think of the format in the comments below so we can tweak it and put together something useful for you as the season progresses.

Let's get into it.

A game: A game that opens DHO

The aim is to highlight a single interesting or notable game. It could reveal a larger trend or simply be an interesting standalone piece with an unusual action.

This week I pulled the opening play from Monday's win against the Bulls.

Throughout the preseason, Rivers has made it clear that the Bucks have been slow to introduce their key offensive moves because they would previously like Khris Middleton to be more consistent on the field. That meant we had to use basic read and react offensive moves for much of the preseason. While the Bucks are more than talented enough to score in these moments, they weren't at their best as there were some sloppy games.

This means that the high-level execution, which Rivers is looking for much more of this season, is reserved for plays that occur after timeouts (ATOs) on the sideline. This was a fun play that the Bucks used to open Monday's game.

There are two things here: First, the dribble-handoff action between Antetokounmpo and Lillard will always be interesting. It's a simple interaction between the Bucks' stars, but offensive moves don't have to be complex to be successful. Antetokounmpo's positioning increases the distance between his defender (the reliever) and Lillard, creating an open view for Lillard to start the game.

Second, this play was built around Gary Trent Jr. as the screenwriter. It started with Trent setting up a ghost screen on Lillard's man – tapping the defender on his left hip before running in the opposite direction – and then it continued with Trent making his way to Lillard's man and just ran through contact to force a switch, which came from a defender doubling Antetokounmpo in the post.

The second screen may not have been entirely legal, but Trent's size and strength as a shooting guard could be something to watch for the Bucks this season. If he's willing to step in and properly shield Antetokounmpo, he can force transitions so Antetokounmpo can take advantage of smaller defenders. If he can use his speed and size to get in front of Lillard's defenders and force transitions there, the Bucks may be able to find more favorable plays for Lillard when it matters most.

If he's able to consistently force substitutions on the Bucks' top two offensive players, a Trent screen could be the first part of many crucial plays next season.

One player: Gary Trent Jr.

Speaking of Trent…

Since Antetokounmpo became a superstar, the role of the Bucks' shooting guard has been pretty simple: defend and knock down open threes.

Over the years, Milwaukee has seen many players thrive in this role. While each player did it in their own way, Donte DiVincenzo, Wesley Matthews, Grayson Allen and Malik Beasley all had great success in completing these tasks. Trent got off to a good start and achieved similar success in his own way.

Defensively, Trent is known for his ability to score turnovers. In Toronto's aggressive system under Nick Nurse, Trent recorded 226 steals, or 1.66 steals per game, in 136 games during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons by jumping passing lanes and taking advantage of opportunities to help the Raptors avoid turnovers force a higher rate than any other NBA team.

While that was useful in Toronto, the Bucks need to get Trent to focus more on the physical one-on-one defense he showed in the first two seasons of his career in Portland. This is especially important when racing across screens and working with the Bucks' big men.

Just look at how well Trent stayed connected to D'Angelo Russell early in this possession against the Los Angeles Lakers:

Brook Lopez is one of the best defensive big men in the NBA in drop pick-and-roll coverage, but that coverage requires an on-ball partner who passes over the top of the screens and is close to the ball handler on the pick -and-roll. As demonstrated last season, Lopez's excellence can be wasted when his partners in the pick-and-roll aren't doing their jobs and the guards have free rein at the basket.

“Here it’s the different players and different talents that give you a certain level of comfort,” Trent said Monday night. “When I'm guarding the ball, I can apply more pressure and try to turn them a little more if I know I have Giannis or Brook at the back who can protect me.

“So it gives me a little bit more freedom defensively. So I'm really just trying to focus on that side of the ball. Obviously there’s going to be shots, but try to lean into it and get myself in there.”

Trent doesn't need to make a steal like he did against Russell on the play above, but he does need to be incredibly tight on the ball for the Bucks to get back to their top-10 defensive form this season.

If Trent puts in the necessary effort defensively, it seems like he'll be given the freedom to enjoy the Mike Budenholzer-era mantra on the other side: Just let it fly when he sees an open shot.

Like this one in Detroit:

“If you have an open look, show it,” Trent said early in the preseason when asked about Rivers' instructions to him on offense. “He communicated that to me and everyone on the team. Everyone has a certain green light, of course with a certain level of control and a certain thought process, but otherwise everything is free flowing. I'm telling you to go out there, play hard, let it fly and let it fly. Just make sure it’s a good shot.”

A trend: struggles on the defensive glass

Given the strange lineups throughout much of the preseason, it's difficult to take too much away from the games, but Rivers mentioned at least one thing that has bothered him in the last two contests among the starters outside of Khris Middleton: poor defensive rebounding.

The Bucks gave up seven offensive rebounds to the Bulls in the first quarter, including this one in transition:

That was a play where the Bucks were playing five-on-four because Trent missed a shot around the rim and took contact that forced him out of the initial rush, but it still highlighted the team's lack of tenacity on the field Glass.

“I see that we're not able to find and touch the ball, and I also see that we're not tracking the ball,” Rivers said of the team's defensive rebounding Monday night. “I thought we did better in the second half.

“We talked about that at halftime. Like we have an inside position, the ball is there and this guy thinks (his teammate) is going to get it. And we were like, “Can we all just run into each other and chase the ball?” And we did. We got every free ball in the second half, the same plays. So it will be good to watch it in the film.”

If the Bucks want to return to the style of defense they mastered under Budenholzer, they will have to excel in a few categories. As mentioned, the Bucks need help from Trent at the point of attack, but if Lopez and Antetokounmpo are to be stationed on the perimeter, the Bucks will need to be one of the two or three best defensive rebounding teams in the NBA. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Bucks fell to eighth place in defensive rebounding rate last season after five straight seasons in the top three.

The Bucks have another chance to prove they are ready to control the defensive line in Dallas, but if they fail to do so, it will be something to keep an eye on as the season begins.

(Photo by Gary Trent Jr.: Benny Sieu / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)