MILWAUKEE — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 117-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Jazz let Milwaukee inside over and over again

The hallmark of the Rudy Gobert and Quin Snyder era of Jazz basketball has been tenacious defense, led by the Stifle Tower's unique abilities inside. That defensive impact by Gobert allows Snyder to play a style of defense preventing opponents from taking the 3-point shot, which is also a nice bonus.

But the Bucks scored 60 points in the paint Saturday night, a season high for them. Over and over again, they got to the rim, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 20 of his points on layups and dunks. That doesn't even count the eight free throws he scored by driving to the rim and getting fouled there.

Antetokounmpo is one of the NBA's best players, but the Jazz had done a relatively nice job of limiting him over the last three seasons, winning every contest against the Bucks. But on Saturday night, that wasn't the case.

Why not? I think it's easy to point towards Gobert. Last season, Gobert was the best rim protector in the league, letting players shoot just 43 percent when he was defending the shot, which he did over 10 times per game. This year, he's allowing opponents to shoot 56 percent, on 6.4 attempts per game. Gobert's a less-frequent presence at the rim defensively for the Jazz, and less effective when he's there.

It feels sometimes like Gobert is afraid of getting into foul trouble, but without the fouls (he only had one tonight). Take a look at this play: Gobert is defending Thon Maker, who is standing out at 20 feet. Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo is posting up Thabo Sefolosha. So Gobert slides down, and predictably, Antetokounmpo beats Sefolosha. But instead of being there to help, Gobert's a step late and seems afraid to challenge the play.

Finally, I watched most of the Bucks' 60 points at the rim after the game. I expected to find more times when Gobert could have contested more, but the only two I found were this one and the final Giannis dunk: pic.twitter.com/Em6yBv1Tz6 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 10, 2017

But I'll be honest, as I was watching video of the Bucks' rim scores, I expected to find more instances on these paint buckets where Gobert could have challenged more effectively. Instead, I found a lot of loose gambles or shoddy effort by his teammates on the perimeter, giving Gobert no real opportunity to defend. I understand why Sefolosha makes this gamble, but it's a low percentage play that Milwaukee takes advantage of really easily.

Instead, what I found was ill-advised gambling by the Jazz's perimeter defenders. That didn't give Gobert much of an opportunity to play good defense. Sefolosha loses his man here, and Rudy doesn't have a chance: pic.twitter.com/HjG8lKWPxt — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 10, 2017

Maybe peak Gobert makes a crazy play there that makes the difference, but it's hard to blame him, right? Ricky Rubio makes these sorts of mistakes frequently, so too does Donovan Mitchell, who hasn't been reliably holding up his end of the defensive bargain.

With Mitchell, it makes sense: he's a rookie. Rubio and Sefolosha, though, are good defenders who have struggled at being aggressive and trapping at good times. If there's a high chance they can get the ball, they should go for it. But if they don't, they have to know the consequences against a good team like Milwaukee: it's likely going to be two points at the rim.

2. Too much one-on-one play

The Jazz had success against the Bucks over the last few seasons because they were well-suited to take advantage of the central Milwaukee gambit: an uber-aggressive pick and roll defense. Just two weeks ago, the Jazz had a franchise record number of 3-pointers against the Bucks, 18. So why didn't the offense work as well Saturday night?

First, Milwaukee changed their base coverage.

"They tried to be very aggressive, very active with their hands," Gobert explained. "They 'blacked' everything. We figured it out, but it took too long."

Black is parlance for switching the pick and roll, and while "everything" is a stretch, the Bucks did a lot of that. In addition, unlike much of the game two weeks ago, the Bucks dropped off on some Rubio pick and rolls, daring him to shoot or make a pass into traffic.

Secondly, though, the Jazz just passed far less frequently than they did on Nov. 25. Instead of getting the Bucks into the blender, as the Jazz call it, where they're moving and passing the ball to open space, the Jazz were too content to settle for shots.

"When we were just dribbling it, their athleticism allows them to catch up with you. When we made quick decisions, we were able to get into the paint and attack," Snyder said. "When we didn't, the ball would stop and we'd play one-on-one, and that's not our game."

Look at this, for example:

Then this Favors corner 3 with 18 seconds left on the shot clock that hit the backboard was rather uninspiring: pic.twitter.com/htZ3RcxlGd — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 10, 2017

I mean, I get that Favors wants to show off his 3-point stroke, but there's just no way that this is a good shot with 18 seconds left on the shot clock. The opportunity cost is too high. Or look at this:

At least a couple of YOLO shots tonight. First, this Ricky Rubio hippity-hop stepback transition pull-up 3 while Antetokounmpo was guarding him was... ill-advised. That's the nicest word? pic.twitter.com/6WZ0bAntvq — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 10, 2017

Rubio! You're a famously limited 3-point shooter, but you're also being guarded by Antetokounmpo here, a man with famously long arms! Again, with 18 seconds left on the shot clock, you can't be taking this 3-point shot!

When players take shots like this, the team concept falters in favor of the point-seeking of one individual. The Jazz did a really good job of getting everyone on board in selfless play at the right moments, during their winning streak, but shots like this set everything back.

3. Mitchell got scouted

Jazz fans have been loving the attention that Mitchell has received from the national press in recent weeks, and understandably so. The Jazz look like they have a future star on their hands, if not a current one.

But the downside of that attention is that he'll get more defensive attention before and during games too. On Saturday night the Bucks knew exactly how to counter Mitchell's favorite moves at the rim, and it resulted in a rough scoring night for the rookie.

Mitchell went 4-17 from the field, and 2-11 from inside the arc. The Bucks were patient with Mitchell, waited to see which one of his favorite finishes he would use, and then stopped him from scoring dramatically.

Donovan Mitchell got scouted a little bit tonight... look at Henson's patience here on the block, seemingly predicting Mitchell's timing: pic.twitter.com/KhGZlKolJe — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) December 10, 2017

> And on this one, Mitchell, out of ideas against Giannis' length, ends up trying to do his right-hand left-side layup in transition, but can't even throw it above the rim: [pic.twitter.com/fHwZxgd0t5](https://t.co/fHwZxgd0t5) > > — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) [December 10, 2017](https://twitter.com/andyblarsen/status/939731004377382914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

One of the best things about Mitchell, though, is how well he learns from mistakes and applies those lessons to his game on the court. Remember his first five games, when he was shooting historically poorly from the field? He's improved so much in only the last six weeks. Now he'll have a chance to watch himself on film, and find new ways to finish or find his teammates for better looks. 

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