Khris Middleton led all scorers with 26, but Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks just couldn’t quite climb out of an early hole Saturday night.
The Bucks (24-35) fell to the Pistons 102-91 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee battled hard after some early struggles. But Detroit led by as much as 16 in the second quarter, leaving J-Kidd’s crew with a long road back into the game.
“Our energy and effort in that first half wasn’t up to par,” Jason said. “They had a lot of warmup 3s and they made them.”
The Bucks looked good at the outset. Jabari Parker opened the game with a fadeaway jumper to take a 2-0 lead. O.J. Mayo splashed a big three from the top of the perimeter to open up a 5-2 lead. Mayo struck again with another 3-pointer a minute later to push the Bucks in front 10-8. But that was the last lead Milwaukee held all game.
Tobias Harris answered with a trifecta for Detroit to regain the lead 11-10 and spark a 12-2 Pistons run. The visitors led 34-24 after 12 minutes.
The Bucks kept the deficit at 10 points through the most of the second quarter, but the Pistons pulled out to a 57-43 lead with two minutes remaining in the first half. Middleton and Parker each scored in the final minute of the quarter to cut the Piston lead back to 10, 59-49, at halftime.
Middleton got Milwaukee going with a three early in the third quarter to bring it to 59-52. Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo each scored down low not long after to pull within five points of the lead. With 6:18 remaining in the third quarter, Mayo made a triple to make it 69-65, dropping the Piston lead to four.
Detroit started to pull away late in the period, but Middleton sank a 17-footer to cut it to 79-73. Andre Drummond added one at the line to make it seven, going into the fourth.
Marcus Morris opened the final period with a three, but Milwaukee showed some life in response. A Giannis Antetokounmpo slam brought the lead back down to eight, but that’s as close as the Bucks came. When crunch time arrived, Milwaukee didn’t match the energy put forth by Detroit.
“You can see the energy has been at a different level. For us, it’s a lot lower and for our opponents it’s been a lot higher,” Jason said. “We’re a young team learning how to play for different things. Detroit is playing for the playoffs. We are too. But the last two games, teams are playing for something
[Boston and Detroit].”On top of the loss, the Bucks also learned that they’ve lost veteran guard Steve Novak for the season with a knee injury. Novak had signed with Milwaukee just a week prior.
“Yeah it’s unfortunate,” Jason said after the game. “He just got here and he’s been a plus since he’s gotten here for us. Hopefully it’s not that serious, because we’ll miss him in a big way.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks will try to regain that energy when they host another playoff contender in the Houston Rockets (29-30) Monday at home.
The two teams met on Jan. 22 in Houston. In that game, the Bucks allowed James Harden to score 30 points as Milwaukee fell 102-98. The Rockets currently hold the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, a half game ahead of the Utah Jazz.
The game will tip at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
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