Bucks Top Pistons, Fall to Spurs

After a pair of close defeats at home, Jason Kidd and the Milwaukee Bucks played host to one of the hottest teams in the NBA—a Detroit Pistons squad that had won 12 of their last 15 games.

Coach Kidd’s club halted the Pistons in decisive fashion, but the following night, they headed south to take on the San Antonio Spurs. And against the defending NBA champions, they nearly kept that momentum going, though they couldn’t quite finish the job.

VICTORY AT HOME

J-Kidd and company were in search of a recipe to put an end their home-court woes Saturday night against the Pistons. And right when they needed to, they played the best basketball they have at BMO Harris Bradley Center in a long time. Making 11 3-pointers on 17 attempts, a 64.7 clip, the Bucks put the Pistons away early and ran away to a 101-86 victory.

The Bucks dished out a season-best 33 assists on 41 made baskets, and shot 50.6% overall. They also reached triple digits in scoring in regulation for the first time since Dec. 26.

“We got back to playing Bucks basketball and sharing it, completing the passes and once the passes were completed, completing the play,” Jason said. “So, from behind the three, also being able to make the extra pass, passing up a good shot to get a better shot. We talked about that the last couple days.”

Brandon Knight was playing on brilliant form per usual. Even though he scored just 14 points, his command of the court was flawless. He dished out five assists, snagged six rebounds and didn’t commit one turnover.

As the first quarter was coming to a close, Knight split a ball-screen and slashed to the hoop for a layup that closed the Detroit lead to just five going into the second quarter. Once the second quarter began, it was O.J. Mayo’s turn to shine. Khris Middleton hit a three and Zaza Pachulia hit a jumper sandwiched around a D.J. Augustin layup to give the Bucks a 45-40 lead.

Then Mayo took over. The veteran-guard connected on three 3-pointers in the span of just 46 seconds, the last of which put the Bucks ahead 54-40 and forced Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy to burn a timeout.

The Bucks then closed with a 7-2 run for a 63-49 advantage heading into intermission on the strength of a 40-point quarter — a high for the Bucks this season.

“He was great,” Coach Kidd said of Mayo. “He’s been shooting the ball extremely well for us, and also I think he’s competing on the defensive end. Again, Juice got that going there and got us that lead, but I thought all the shots he took were great shots.”

Knight was back at it again in the third frame when he connected on a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Bucks up 22, 71-49.

A scary moment followed at the latter part of the third quarter when Detroit guard and former Buck Brandon Jennings, who finished with 16 points, fell down while putting full-court pressure on Knight. Jennings left for the night and was reported to have a torn left Achilles tendon—the injury will sideline him for the remainder of the season.

After the 14-point first-half performance by Mayo, he finished the game with 20. Fellow guard, Jared Dudley finished with 12 points off the bench, including two 3-pointers.

Dudley told reporters how much easier it is to make shots when everyone’s jumpers are falling—its contagious.

“Juice
[Mayo] kind of caught fire, but we hit a lot more open shots,” Dudley said. “We were giving the ball up early and guys were looking for each other. Sometimes it takes a couple of losses and guys look each other in the face and see what they can do more and better. That’s how we have to play to be successful.”

Milwaukee took a 91-67 lead into the fourth quarter, where its hot shooting tapered off. The Bucks scored just 10 points in the final frame, but the damage was already done, and they cruised to victory anyway.

Still, ever the perfectionist, Coach Kidd was hoping for more in the final frame, even in the victory.

“I thought for three quarters the pace was good,” he said. “That fourth quarter was awful.”

CHAMPS WIN CLOSE

Coach Kidd was cool, calm and collected on Sunday night against San Antonio. His ball club was playing extraordinary; no bad turnovers, making open shots, sharing the ball and maintaining a lead. Although Brandon Knight was struggling, Khris Middleton and Jarryd Bayless were picking up the slack. Middleton scored 21, while Bayless poured in 15 off the bench. But the championship pedigree of the Spurs began to strengthen as the game went on, and Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard showed savvy down the stretch to pull out a 101-95 win at the AT&T Center.

Ersan Ilyasova put in an easy layup in transition to go up on the Spurs in the first quarter, 24-12. The Bucks were playing with energy and aggression, making San Antonio look slow. The lead was maintained till the second quarter when Duncan was stripped in the lane, and Middleton tossed a long pass to Mayo for an easy two to go up eight with 7:04 in the half.

Then it was Middleton again who found a cutting Zaza Pachulia for a dunk that helped Coach Kidd’s team carry a 55-47 lead into the locker rooms for the halftime recess.

The end of the first half was actually capped off by a backdoor cut by Bayless who caught a lop from the top of the key from Knight, connecting on a tremendous alley-oop that involved some harm by Duncan under the hoop—Bayless made the ensuing free throw.

The Spurs allowed 31 points in the second quarter and the Bucks shot nearly 58% in the first half, but Milwaukee was just 4-of-19 in the third quarter and 16-of-42 (38.1%) in the second half.

Tiago Splitter converted on a hard-fought offensive rebound and put back to give San Antonio its first lead since the early goings of the first quarter as the Spurs were fighting back in front of their home crowd of 18,581.

Duncan finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Leonard chalked up 19 points and 14 rebounds. Boris Diaw scored 14, and Manu Ginobli scored 13 off the bench.

“For us, in the third quarter, we turned the ball over,” Coach Kidd said. “We’re playing the world champs. We know that they’re going to make a run.”

Danny Green and Matt Bonner connected on 3-pointers in the final frame that kept Milwaukee at bay for the remainder of the game.

With two minutes left, Middleton stole the ball and finished with a dunk on the other end to close the Spur lead to just two, 95-93. Duncan then came down and knocked down a shot off a Tony Parker assist.

Down four, Bayless had a floater in the lane that was off the mark. Bucks were then forced to foul. The Spurs went a perfect 4-of-4 from the stripe in the final 20 seconds to close out the contest.

“I think everybody fought and gave everything they had,” Jason said. “Back-to-back, you’re asking against the world champs to give yourself a chance to win or tie, and we did.”

NEXT UP

The Bucks (22-22) are back in action Tuesday night against the defending Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat (20-24).

Milwaukee is 2-0 against Miami thus far this season, giving Jason’s squad a chance to clinch the four-game season series on the road.

“Our pace is key,” Jason said at shootaround. “Tonight we don’t want to walk up and down the court. We want to be quicker. We have to make sure we don’t give them second opportunities—they’re a team that works off the offensive rebound. Then again, for us, we have to be patient, take care of the ball and get good shots.”

Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EST.