Bucks Split With Wolves & Thunder

Jason Kidd and the Milwaukee Bucks started their weekend strong, but ended their five-game home stretch Sunday with a loss.

Khris Middleton made his first eight three-point attempts in a 116-101 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday, but the Bucks allowed Kevin Durant to score 32 points as they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder (43-20) 104-96 Sunday.

BUCKS HOLD OFF MINNESOTA RALLY

In Friday’s win over the Timberwolves, Jason was satisfied with the win, but said he had hoped his team could have closed out its opponent sooner. The Bucks led by as much as 27 in the third quarter but allowed the Wolves to battle all the way back to within seven. That forced Jason to plug his starters back into the lineup to finish it out.

“I thought it would be a game to get our bench some playing time,” Jason said. “Unfortunately, it never got there. The guys that were in, it got down to 10. I was tempted to just leave them out there and finish it because they kind of let it become a game again and I kind of wanted to see how they would respond.”

Middleton’s 32 points led the way for all scorers, as he only missed on one of his nine three-point attempts. Giannis Antetokounmpo fell one rebound short of a triple-double, finishing with 27 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.

Antetokounmpo got his teammates involved early, as he dumped off a pass to Jabari Parker for a corner three to give the Bucks a 3-2 lead. A few minutes later, Antetokounmpo assisted Middleton on a trey and then Miles Plumlee on an alley-oop to shoot the Bucks ahead 16-11.

Karl-Anthony Towns responded with a few key buckets and an assist on a Ricky Rubio three to grab a 27-21 lead for the Timberwolves. The Bucks failed to regain control before the end of the quarter and trailed 35-29 at the end of the period.

With 9:12 remaining in the second quarter, Jerryd Bayless hit a 26-foot trey to cut the Timberwolves lead to 40-36. Trailing 49-41, Middleton hit an 18-footer, O.J. Mayo splashed a three and Middleton followed with a triple of his own to tie the game at 49 with 3:49 left in the first half.

The Timberwolves regained the lead, but Middleton took it back with yet another hit from beyond the arc to give his team a 59-56 lead with 33 seconds remaining in the half. He added one more triple with one second on the clock to give the Bucks a 62-56 halftime advantage.

“Khris had a great night tonight,” Jason said. “We shared the ball, and we made our shots. I thought Khris was a little more focused tonight.”

Another three from Middleton with just under 10 minutes to play in the third quarter put the Bucks in front 69-58, and Antetokounmpo extended the lead to 20 with a driving dunk at the 7:43 mark in the second quarter.

Middleton got another long-range shot to fall with 4:56 remaining in the third quarter, and the Bucks took control with an 88-65 lead. Eventually a Middleton step-back made it a 27-point advantage: 97-70.

But the young Wolves weren’t done. They ended the third on an 11-1 run. Still, J-Kidd slotted his second unit in the game to start the third, looking to them to close out the contest. But big threes from Zach LaVine and Damjan Rudez brought the lead all the way down to seven midway through the quarter.

With the T’Wolves right back in the game, Jason put his starters back in the game. Mayo first gave them some breathing room with a three, and Giannis, Jabari and Khris all also scored down the stretch to quell the rally and secure the win.

“Having Giannis, Jabari and Khris go back in there to seal the deal was good,” Jason said. “We won the game, but we can learn from this, because Minnesota kept playing…The group that was on the floor kind of let the game get away from them.

OKC TOO MUCH IN MILWAUKEE

On Sunday against the Thunder, the Bucks didn’t have the luxury of a late lead. Parker and Antetokounmpo each scored 26, but Milwaukee allowed five Oklahoma City players to reach double figures. That includes Durant, who posted a double-double with 32 points and 12 rebounds.

Despite Antetokounmpo reaching a triple-double with 12 rebounds and 10 assists, the Bucks got out to a rough start. They trailed the Thunder 15-2 eight minutes into the game.

“No matter what time you play, you’ve got to be ready. And that first quarter was not acceptable,” Jason said.

The score didn’t get much prettier by the end of the quarter. When the first quarter was over, Milwaukee trailed 32-12.

“That first quarter was tough,” Jason said. “But I thought the character of the guys, to keep playing and keep fighting, we got into the game. For our first
[home] afternoon game, it wasn’t a pretty one.”

The Bucks slowly started to eat away at the Thunder lead throughout the second quarter. Antetokounmpo knocked down a pair of free throws and then stole a Russell Westbrook pass on the other end. That led to a running transition slam off a feed from Parker to cut the OKC lead to 12, 54-42. However, the Thunder stretched it back to 16, at the end of the half.

Early in the third quarter, Oklahoma City was still firmly in control of the game. The Bucks, however, ended the quarter on a 15-3 run to make it just a five-point game, 84-79, in favor of the Thunder heading into the fourth quarter.

“We’re playing Oklahoma City, one of the best teams, not just in the West but in the league,” Jason said. “I thought the character of the guys to keep playing and keep fighting…They kept playing, and we found ourselves in a ballgame.”

Right out of the gates in the fourth quarter, Middleton hit a big three to drop the Thunder lead to two, 84-82. But that is as close as the Bucks came. OKC responded with a 9-2 run to pad its lead and never looked back.

“I think we had some open looks there,” Jason said. “In the Minnesota game they all seemed to go down. Tonight they didn’t.”

But even in the tough loss, Jason saw a lot of potential in his team, and they one day reach the level of Durant, Westbrook and the Thunder.

“When you look at Oklahoma City, they’re veteran guys who have gone through the process that Giannis and Jabari are going through,” Jason said. “We can take that path because those two are both pretty talented. I think Giannis and Jabari can do that.”

MCW OUT FOR SEASON

The Bucks received some bad news on Monday when they announced that point guard Michael Carter-Williams will be sidelined for the remainder of the season to undergo surgery to repair the torn labrum in his left hip.

MCW sat out Sunday’s meeting with the Thunder. Before that game, Jason revealed that it has been something that has bothered his point guard of late, but now requires added attention.

“That was an injury that’s been there,” Kidd said of MCW. “Hopefully he can have a speedy recovery and get back on the court.”

NEXT UP

The Bucks (26-37) will travel on the road for the first time since Feb. 25 to face the Chicago Bulls (31-30) Monday. The two teams have split results in two games this season. On Jan. 5, the Bucks lost in Chicago 117-106. One week later, Milwaukee beat Chicago at home 106-101.

The Bulls’ Jimmy Butler is one game returned from a knee injury that caused him to be sidelined for nearly the entire month of February. That could be bad news for the Bucks, who have allowed Butler to score 30-plus points in each of the previous two games this season. In his first game back, a 108-100 win over Houston on Saturday night, he played 34 minutes and nearly totaled a triple-double: 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists.

The game tips at 7 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Wisconsin.