Two of the most dangerous words in the NBA are “trap game.” And among those dangerous two words are “revenge” and “game.” Put all of that together, and you get what happened to the Golden State Warriors when they met former guard Ryan Rollins on the road in Milwaukee.
With Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo out with knee soreness, the Dubs’ 44th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft went for a career-high 32 points on 13-of-21 shooting to help the Bucks dispel the Warriors 120-110 in true trap game, revenge game fashion.
After the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talked about Rollins’ career night.
“His speed gave us a lot of trouble; he got past us, penetration, he scored at the rim or kicked it to shooters,” Kerr said. “He was fantastic tonight. Just played a great game.”
As Kerr pointed out, Rollins had his way with the Warriors’ perimeter defense, getting wherever he wanted. As the facilitator of the Bucks’ offense, the 23-year-old from Toledo looked calm and collected, setting up his teammates on his way to eight assists.
Rollins has come a long way since departing the Warriors as a throw-in piece in the Jordan Poole–Chris Paul trade with the Washington Wizards. The Wizards waived him that same season before he signed a two-way contract with the Bucks. From there, he worked his way into Milwaukee’s rotation as a solid combo guard off the bench behind Damian Lillard, earning a modest three-year, $12 million contract this past offseason.
But the leap he’s taken with Milwaukee this season as their starting point guard is incredible—going from 6.2 points, 1.9 assists, and 0.8 steals to 18.6 points, 5.0 assists, and 2.4 steals per game. It’s early, but he might be an early sleeper for Most Improved Player of the Year.
**Golden State’s Fatigue and Sloppy Turnovers**
As special as Rollins was against his former team, the Warriors also did not do themselves many favors. Golden State turned the ball over 22 times, which the Bucks directly converted into 27 points. They also conceded 19 made 3-pointers to Milwaukee on 41.3% shooting.
Those two factors didn’t help the Warriors as they had to play catch-up in the fourth quarter, especially when Rollins was scoring at will every time he touched the ball.
“It looked to me like fatigue,” Kerr said after the game. The loss in Milwaukee was the Warriors’ sixth game in 10 days. “Mental, physical fatigue. It did not look like our team out there. Our spacing was bad. It didn’t feel like we had our usual pop. And I thought Milwaukee was brilliant. They made 19 3s. They made one tough one after another down the stretch. But we let them hang around for too long, and that was the problem. Anytime a team plays without its star, you know a team is going to be out there with nothing to lose.”
Kerr made sure to point out that fatigue was not an excuse. He credited Milwaukee’s offensive execution and also cited how the Warriors’ defense looked sluggish all night long.
“We didn’t handle our switching very well. Our defense struggled tonight. They were small, so we went to an all-switching coverage and lineup. We’ll have to watch the tape, but I didn’t feel like we did a good job there.”
Jimmy Butler agreed with Kerr’s sentiments when asked about the fatigue factor.
“Nah, very winnable game,” Butler said. “Very winnable game if we go out there and do what we are supposed to do. It’s a hard one, though. When one of their star players is down, not gonna say they had nothing to lose, but it makes everyone play at a whole other level. So you tilt your hat at that.”
Golden State will look to bounce back on Saturday with a road game against the Indiana Pacers before returning home.
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