Amid their roughest patch of the season Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks were desperate for luck to finally swing their way. But on Tuesday night, in taking down the Miami Heat, the Bucks were forced to make their own luck.
Coach Kidd’s squad found themselves trailing by 16 points early in the fourth quarter, but as they have all season, Milwaukee clawed back to pull within two points in the final 10 seconds. Again, that Milwaukee resolved showed. It first came down to a jump ball, which 6’3” guard Jerryd Bayless won over 6’9” Miami forward Michael Beasley, and then a frantic final possession.
After winning the jump, Bayless missed a tough driving lay-up, but Zaza Pachulia was there to battle for the loose ball. As he was falling out of bounds, Pachulia tossed the ball over his shoulder to an awaiting Khris Middleton, who caught and launched an off-balance three-pointer that was right on target, giving Milwaukee a miracle 89-88 victory at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“Just the character of those guys fighting to the end,” Jason said afterward. “They played 48 minutes and fought until the clock said 0:00. The guys in that locker room get a lot of credit for staying together, playing the game out and they found a way to get the last shot and get it to go in.”
Middleton has emerged late in the season as Milwaukee’s go-to guy, but he didn’t have his best night overall. Before that final shot, he was 4-of-16 from the floor and 1-of-7 from three with just 10 points—but none of that was on his mind when he hoisted that final shot.
“I knew it was ticking down,” said Middleton, who sank his second three-point buzzer beater of the season. “I knew I had to catch and shoot. I can’t think about anything else but just catch and let it go.”
Middleton became the first player to hit two game-winning threes in a season since Kobe Bryant did so back during the 2009-10 campaign. His first herculean effort was on Dec. 15 when he spun into a 3-point shot that banked in to give the Bucks a two-point win over the Phoenix Suns. Both buzzer beaters have come off broken plays. In those situations, the flow of the game becomes a mad scramble and as Coach Kidd surmised afterward, in those moments the ball takes some funny bounces to find the right guy.
“The ball always ends up in the best shooter’s hands,” J-Kidd said. “You don’t even have to draw up a play for them. Khris is no secret, everybody know he can shoot the ball. He was in the right place at the right time and Z (Pachulia) found a way to get it to him.”
On the heels of a six-game losing skid, the matchup with Miami, who was suddenly breathing down Milwaukee’s neck for the sixth spot in the East, was about as close to a must-win as a team can get.
Early on, the Bucks appeared primed to lose a seventh straight game and watch Miami inch closer in the standings.
Despite a hot start from Ersan Ilyasova, who scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the opening frame, Milwaukee was unable to establish itself offensively in the first. They shot just over 40 percent from the field and turned the ball over five times in the quarter, and after they’d pulled out to a four-point lead the Heat closed the quarter on an 11-2 run to take a five-point lead into the second. Miami guard Mario Chalmers continued that run in the opening seconds of the second, scoring the first five points of the quarter to push the lead to double digits for the first time.
However, led by the aggressive play of a five-man group of Bayless, Michael Carter-Williams, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Pachulia and Miles Plumlee the Bucks surged back with a 16-2 run of their own over the middle stages of the frame to take a five-point lead of their own. The teams went back and forth from there, but it was the Heat that took a two-point lead in at halftime.
But early in the second half, the whole game appeared ready to unravel for the Bucks. The third frame was Milwaukee’s worst of the evening and after they took a brief two-point lead just a few minutes in on a pair of free throws from Antetokounmpo, the Heat took complete control. Over the final nine minutes of the third quarter, Miami tallied 26 points. Meanwhile Milwaukee connected on just 7-of-26 attempts from the field and fell down by 14 heading into the final quarter.
Matters got worse for the Bucks in the first few minutes of the fourth when starting point guard Michael Carter-Williams picked up three fouls in succession and fouled out with 7:41 left. Carter-Williams was limited to four points and had six turnovers on the evening. But despite the adversity of being without their starting point guard, J-Kidd’s ball club was able to clamp down defensively and hold the Heat to just nine points on 24 percent shooting in the fourth.
Bayless had a strong night for the Bucks, turning in 10 points, five assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block off the bench, but no play was bigger than that jump ball. Despite the six-inch height differential, the shorter guard let his athleticism show as he skied and earned his team possession.
During his Milwaukee debut, guard Carter-Williams raved about Bayless’ lift after the two linked up on an alley-oop, and Bayless proved his teammate right by winning the jump that was just as crucial as Middleton’s final shot.
“A lot of times with the refs, you’ve just got to try and time them,” Bayless said of the jump ball. “I tried to time it and I was able to get it. I got lucky.”
While Bayless attributed that key jump to a bit of luck, Coach Kidd chalked the entire comeback up to the grit and determination of his ballclub.
“They got up by 14 but nobody stopped or let go of the rope,” Jason said. “They held onto the rope tighter. They kept pushing each other and telling each other that there was a lot of time left and they found themselves in the ball game.”
Three Bucks had double-doubles on the night: Ersan Ilyasova had 19 points and 11 boards, Giannis Antetokounmpo added 16 and 10 rebounds, and Pachulia tallied 14 points and 11 boards. Ilyasova and Giannis each also added three blocks and two assists, while Pachulia added five steals and seven assists, including that key dime on the game-winner.
It was a crucial victory for the Bucks, who closed the game with an 18-3 run to improve to 35-36 to remain in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The Heat fell to 32-38. The Bucks also swept the four-game season series with the Heat to capture the tie-breaker between the teams.
NEXT UP
The Bucks currently hold the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and a 2.5 game lead over the seventh seeded Miami Heat.
If the playoffs were to start today Milwaukee would be matched with the No. 3 seeded Chicago Bulls, but with about two weeks of games left in the regular season there is plenty left unwritten. The next test for Milwaukee comes Thursday night against another playoff hopeful, the Indiana Pacers (30-39).
The Bucks are 1-2 against the Pacers this season, and they’ll look to even the series against an Indy squad that is also in need of wins. The Pacers have lost six straight and have fallen to 10th in the East, where they are a full game behind the eighth-place Boston Celtics.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET from the Bradley Center.
