Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks trailed by four with 22 seconds left on the clock, but those final 22 seconds were flawless as they escaped with a thrilling victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
O.J. Mayo buried a clutch three-pointer to keep Milwaukee in it. Then point guard Michael Carter-Williams made three great plays: tying up C.J. McCollum, winning the jump ball and setting up Greg Monroe on the game-winning layup. Coach Kidd was almost at a loss for words after his team’s remarkable execution down the stretch of the 90-88 win.
“I thought the execution, paying attention to detail, coming up making shots and then also getting about the stops…those little things put you in a position to win,” Jason said. “Juice makes a big three, Michael makes a heck of a pay and then wins the jump ball and we come down and score… We’re so young and we’re going to make some mistakes, both on the offensive and defensive end. I think tonight was a sign of us staying together.”
As Jason said, the young Bucks have still shown signs of a team still forming, still with much to learn. They weren’t without mistakes early, but they came together and made it happened when it mattered most.
They looked strong in the early going, forcing six Portland turnovers in the first quarter. On the offensive end, Monroe pounded it inside for eight points on 4-of-4 shooting. Monroe finished with 16 points and 12 boards. Those 16 were second only to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who turned in 17 points and nine rebounds, including six and three in the first quarter.
The Bucks shot 54.5 percent in the first quarter and tallied 18 points in the paint to take a 25-16 lead after one. The offense faltered a bit in the second. Milwaukee’s shooting dipped to 28.6 percent, but the defense was steadfast. The Bucks forced six more turnovers in the second quarter, playing to a 17-17 draw to go into the break up 42-33.
As suffocating as Milwaukee’s defense was in the first half, it deflated in the third quarter. Damian Lillard ripped the Bucks for 10 points including a pair of three-pointers. Jason’s crew forced just two turnovers after forcing 12 in the first half. That allowed the Portland offense to shoot 50 percent. The Blazers hit four three-pointers and cashed in six second-chance points off of five offensive rebounds.
“We thought we played a pretty good first half and we let that third quarter get to us. We didn’t protect the three. In the first half I think they made one and then in that second half we gave up seven,” J-Kidd told reporters. “So, we’ve got to make sure that we continue to protect the three, but we have to rebound the ball. I think that happened in the third quarter where we let them get some offensive rebounds, put-backs and gave them a little bit of that momentum.”
Mayo stepped in and quelled that momentum right off the bat in the fourth quarter. He hit a long two and a three-pointer to put the Bucks up one and set the stage for a back-and-forth fourth. Mayo finished with 15 points, his third straight game in double figures.
After Mayo set the table, Khris Middleton chewed up the Blazers midway through the frame. He hit a long two and a pair of free throws that put the Bucks up six with six minutes to go. Middleton had 14 points on the night.
But that six-point cushion didn’t last long. Al-Farouq Aminu and Lillard went back-to-back from three-point range to erase the Milwaukee lead. Portland dropped three more buckets and found itself in a six-point lead with 3:26 to go, but the Bucks then chipped their way back. Mayo hit a three and Giannis dropped four free throws and a key layup to cut the lead to two, 86-84, with 23.4 to go. However, a pair of Lillard free throws made it four points, so Milwaukee knew it would need either a three, or a stop, or both to overcome the two-possession deficit. The Bucks got both.
Mayo started the final flurry with a big trifecta from the wing, cutting it to 88-87. Jason praised both the scorer, Mayo, and the assister, Middleton, on the play. Khris has hit numerous game-winning buckets for the Bucks in the past, and he is known as perhaps their top go-to shooter, but he made no qualms about deferring to the hot hand against Portland.
“Having a shooter pass to another shooter, you look at Khris, everybody felt like Khris was probably going to end up with the shot, but he was actually the one making the pass. And that just shows your versatility and also accepting your role,” Jason said. “Going to Juice we felt that he made the last three so why not go to the hot player.”
Then on the other end, it was MCW’s turn. Carter-Williams was recently relegated to the bench, but Jason wasn’t going to leave out the versatile guard in crunch time. And as he explained, as long as MCW is in when Milwaukee needs him, it doesn’t matter who makes the starting five.
“I think the secret about this is everybody’s worried about starting and I think for me the secret, success is playing at the end of the game. That’s where you get paid and that’s where you become someone. If you ask a lot of the stars in this league, they all relish in the last six minutes of the game,” J-Kidd told the media. “So, for Michael, not starting but being able to finish games is what the team maybe needs at this point. Not saying that he won’t get back in the starting lineup but he made some plays late and that’s what we needed.”
With some help from Antetokounmpo, Carter-Williams tied up McCollum on the inbound play, and the 6-foot-6 former Rookie of the Year wasn’t losing the jump ball to his 6-foot-4 counterpart. MCW showed off his length and swatted the tip back into the hands of Monroe.
The big man sent it back to MCW who brought it up court, and the two-man game continued from there. The two worked a brilliant pick-and-roll, and Carter-Williams dished down low to Monroe, and the Moose finished with a tough go-ahead bucket in the lane.
“We’re looking for our strengths and that was getting Michael downhill and Moose rolling,” J-Kidd recalled. “I thought Michael made a heck of a play by getting in the paint. And then, finding Moose in traffic and then Moose being able to finish. I think again, keeping our composure, understanding what’s at stake in the sense of what play we’re asking you to do, and being able to read it…it was impressive for those guys to execute.”
Milwaukee still didn’t quit. It took yet another big defensive play from another bench player to seal the deal. This time, reserve center John Henson came through with an outstanding rejection of opposing big man Meyers Leonard on what would’ve been the game-winning shot with three seconds to go.
Jason was smitten by his team’s play after the game, saying that everything—including the Middleton three, the Mayo pass, the MCW tie-up, the Monroe bucket, the Henson block and more—all culminated in a fantastic Milwaukee win.
“Playing to the end: That’s something that we might not have done early in the season,” Jason said. “Understanding that there’s 48 minutes, anything can happen and I thought that group out there were fighting and trying to figure out a way to get back in the game both offensively and defensively. They did that by staying together. It wasn’t just one person, everybody pitched in tonight and that’s what we’re going to need if we’re going to win.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks (9-13) will look to make it three straight wins Wednesday when they host the Los Angeles Clippers (12-9).
L.A. is coming off back-to-back wins as well over the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves. Jason’s Bucks split two games with Doc Rivers’ Clips a year ago, the home team winning each meeting.
Game time is set at 7 p.m. CT. Milwaukee looks to increase its 7-4 home record.
