One night after winning a close game on the road against the New York Knicks, Jason Kidd implored someone on his Milwaukee Bucks to step up and be the spark plug at home on night two of a back-to-back.
Veteran guard Jerryd Bayless was that man for Jason on Saturday night, as he poured in 19 points and 10 assists off the bench to give the Bucks their second win on the weekend, a 94-86 triumph over Coach Kidd’s former team, the Brooklyn Nets.
“We talked as team and said we needed some energy. I needed someone to step up,” Jason said. “Both teams were in New York last night and had to fly in, so I thought it had to be someone to get the pace going. That first half was not very good basketball. I was watching a movie earlier, Radio, probably could’ve continued to watch that. It was tough, but we came out in the second half and guys got into it. Bayless gave us a spark, we started making shots, we started rebounding the ball, and we pulled away.”
BUCKS TAKE MANHATTAN
The night prior, center John Henson and Giannis Antetokounmpo were the guys for Milwaukee. After falling 122-97 to the Knicks in the season opener, the Bucks had vengeance on their minds.
“Losing the opening game by 25, we had to make a statement,” Antetokounmpo said. “We had to come out and play hard and try to get a win.”
Giannis made sure the Bucks did just that, tallying a game-high eight points in the first quarter to guide Milwaukee to a 30-20 lead. He continued his strong season, stuffing the stat sheet with 20 points, seven rebounds, two steals, one assist and one block.
The Knicks battled back in the second quarter, making it just a three-point game at the half. Johnny O’Bryant had a solid third frame for the Bucks, and through three quarters, he had 11 points and three rebounds, going 4-of-4 from the floor to earn some praise from Coach Kidd.
“Sometimes we forget the guys who do the little things are just as important as the ones who do the big things,” Kidd said. “Johnny sometimes goes unnoticed but I bet those guys in that locker room appreciate him every time he takes the floor.”
Overall though, it was a quiet third quarter for both sides made it just 75-73, Bucks going into the fourth. Then in the final frame, Henson took his turn. After missing four games with a sore Achilles, the reserve center made up for lost time.
He finished with a team-high 22 points with five rebounds and three blocks. In the fourth quarter alone, he had 11 points and two blocks and was 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.
“We need John not just for the defense but what he did offensively for us,” Jason said. “And I thought he stepped up to the line and made free throws when he got fouled. I thought he changed the game defensively blocking shots and on the offensive end he was getting the ball in the paint and finishing. He was a big plus for us tonight and we needed him.”
Henson, Giannis and Bayless combined to go on an 11-2 run midway through the fourth to put the Bucks up by nine, and they never looked back. Khris Middleton, who finished with 13 points, added a dagger three down the stretch to close out the win.
BACK-TO-BACK
Before Bayless’s big second half, Greg Monroe powered Milwaukee down low through the first two quarters of play.
The new Buck had 11 points, five boards, two steals and a block in the first half and finished with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Nets led by eight early in the second quarter, when Bayless fed Moose down low. The Milwaukee big man powered through a foul for a key three-point play.
However, Milwaukee allowed Brooklyn to shoot 47.5 percent, and the game was knotted at 44 at the break. But after turning the Nets over eight times in the first two quarters combined, the Bucks forced eight turnovers in the third quarter alone.
Bayless had two steals in the quarter, and the turnovers turned into 11 easy points for Milwaukee. Middleton canned two threes and had eight third-quarter points to put the Bucks up 67-61. Bayless stayed hot, nailing a three to open the fourth quarter, and he came through with another key player shortly thereafter. Bojan Bogdanovic came up with a steal for Brooklyn and raced down the court for a bucket that would’ve put the deficit back down to single digits. However, Bayless hustled behind him and erased his layup attempt from behind.
“I think when you’re at home, sometimes you rely on the crowd to give you some energy and that wasn’t happening tonight. With that block, there was some plays that were made and kind of got the guys going. That was a heck of a play. Not just that but passing the ball. With him at the point, he did a lot of good things.”
The guard splashed a dagger three with just over two minutes to go to close out his phenomenal night. He had 11 points in the fourth quarter alone. Jabari Parker also appeared in that final frame and finished with eight points in 24 minutes of work against Brooklyn. Jason spoke about the progress of the second-year star.
“I try to keep his minutes to six or less and tonight I wanted to see him play in the fourth quarter. To start that process of hopefully we’ll see next week, again we have five games in seven days this past week … again he had a great week,” J-Kidd told reporters. “Being able to play the back-to-back and then this is 24 minutes for him tonight so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks are now 4-3 on the year riding a four-game winning streak after starting the season 0-3.
Milwaukee hosts the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. Boston is 2-3 on the year but is coming off a big win over the Washington Wizards over the weekend. The Bucks won last year’s season series 2-1 over the Celtics.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
