The Milwaukee Bucks put forth a strong effort in a tough road game Wednesday against the Denver Nuggets, but in the final seconds, the ball didn’t bounce the way of Jason Kidd’s club.
Khris Middleton played strong defense on Denver’s final possession, forcing an air ball from Danilo Gallinari, but the errant shot landed in the hands of big man Kenneth Faried for an easy putback. Middleton launched a fadeaway jumper in the final second, but his would-be game-winner fell off its mark and Milwaukee fell 103-102 at the Pepsi Center.
“Down the stretch offensively we got great looks,” Jason said. “Khris got a great look there to win the game. The issue that’s been hurting us has been rebounding the ball. We gave up an offensive rebound to give them the lead. Khris did a really good job, made them take a tough shot, but the ball bounced their way.”
Middleton helped the Bucks out to a strong start, hitting a three at the beginning and at the end of the first quarter. Giannis Antetokounmpo added eight points and three assists, and Tyler Ennis tallied seven—and Milwaukee claimed a 32-25 lead after one.
The Bucks kept firing in the second period. They shot 70 percent from the floor in the second, and Greivis Vasquez and Jerryd Bayless combined to go 8-of-10 for 20 points with seven assists between them, answering the call laid out by Jason, who implored his bench to provide a spark after Tuesday night’s loss to Boston.
The injection of energy form Vasquez and Bayless had Milwaukee up 64-53 at the break. The Bucks shot 70 percent in the first half, and the Nuggets shot 52.4 percent.
“Both teams were just having shootaround,” Coach Kidd said of the first half. “Both teams were shooting over 50 percent, and then they came out in the third quarter and kept shooting, and we missed some shots we made in the first half. But the game wasn’t won or lost in that third. Guys fought and we gave ourselves a chance on the road to win.”
As Jason said after the game, Denver stayed hot after halftime, while Milwaukee cooled off. Gallinari and Faried combined for 22 points, while the Bucks turned it over seven times as their 11-point lead was flipped into a seven-point deficit, going into the fourth.
“In the third quarter we opened up by giving them three corner threes and they go on a 9-2 run,” J-Kidd recalled. “Then Faried just dominated the paint, giving them second opportunities and getting to the free-throw line.”
However, Jason’s club kept fighting. Bayless fueled the offense once again with 14 fourth-quarter points. He finished with a team-high 22 in 28 minutes of work off the bench. Milwaukee trialed by 13 early in the fourth, but Bayless reeled off seven straight points to put his team right back in it.
“Jerryd did a really good job of getting us back into the game,” Jason said. “We were down 13 and we got a couple three-point plays, and now it’s anybody’s ball game.”
Bayless canned a game-tying three with 1:54 to go, and Johnny O’Bryant made a great play on the next possession. The forward pulled down a JJ Hickson miss, and Bayless set him up for the go-ahead jumper on the other end. O’Bryant finished with 11 points and the best plus/minus (plus-19) of any player on either side.
“I thought JOB played extremely well,” J-Kidd said. “He was giving us second opportunities and on the defensive end he was able to help.”
Rookie guard Emmanuel Mudiay dropped a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to put Denver 101-100, but Antetokounmpo answered back with a close-range bucket to give the lead right back to Milwaukee, 102-101, with just 17.5 seconds on the clock. The Greek Freak finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two blocks.
With five seconds to play, the Nuggets looked to Gallinari, who had a game-high 25 points, for the game-winning bucket. However, thanks to some suffocating defense from Middleton, the shot was well off its mark. But unfortunately, Faried pulled in the miss and put in an easy putback to propel Denver to victory.
“Khris did a great job keeping the ball in front of him forcing him into a tough shot,” J-Kidd told reporters. “The air ball is one of the toughest rebounds to get, and Faried comes up with it and puts it in. We executed down the stretch on the offensive end. We just couldn’t get the stop when we needed to.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks (4-5) will have some time to regroup before hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers (7-1) on Saturday.
The Cavs fell to the Chicago Bulls in their season opener but have won every game since. They’ll take on the New York Knicks on Friday at Madison Square Garden, putting them on night two of a back-to-back when they head to Milwaukee.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT from the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
