For the first time since Jan. 19, Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks are riding a three-game win streak.
All five starters finished in double figures to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 103-92 on Saturday night. Then Sunday, they traveled a time zone over, in addition to losing an hour to Daylight Savings Time, and rode a spectacular triple-double by Giannis Antetokounmpo to take a 109-100 win over Coach Kidd’s former team, the Brooklyn Nets.
“I think the league was testing us to see how we can handle back-to-back (games) while losing two hours,” Jason joked. “Right now, the guys are developing when you talk about Khris, Giannis and Jabari. They have come a long way since the beginning of training camp, and now it is just a matter of continuing to push and raise the bar to get better.”
BUCKS ROLL PAST NOLA
Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, Greg Monroe and Jerryd Bayless were all in double figures on Saturday night. Middleton led the way with a near triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, tacking on three steals as well.
Milwaukee built its lead to 19 points with three minutes to go before Jason pulled his starters. That left Middleton just two assists shy of his first career triple-double—and J-Kidd commented afterward that he didn’t realize his star guard was so close.
“I’m not a coach who looks at the stat sheet every timeout, and I’ll take the blame for that,” Coach Kidd said. “I didn’t know he needed two assists. I’m just into the wins. When I took him out, he actually was funny about it, because he had a feeling I was going to take him out. I didn’t know he was that close, so I told him I owe him one. I told him there’s no better time than (Sunday) for a triple-double.”
Antetokounmpo was the one who ended up with the triple-double on Sunday, after filling it up with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks on Saturday. Jabari Parker added 15 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals, while Greg Monroe notched a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Monroe, Giannis and Middleton all had it going early. Giannis and Greg each had six points, while Middleton had nine points and five assists. He helped to spark Jerryd Bayless, dishing on one of JB’s two first-quarter threes. Bayless finished with 17 points and played a big role late as well.
Milwaukee led 33-28 after one quarter, and the bench did its part in the second. Tyler Ennis led the way with eight of his 10 points off the pine, while Miles Plumlee added two points to put the reserves in double figures. Ennis’ layup pushed Milwaukee’s lead to 12, but the Pelicans answered with an 11-2 run to make it 55-52 at halftime.
NOLA tied it at 62 early in the quarter, but the Bucks responded with a 6-0 run to stay ahead, but the Pelicans eventually tipped the scales. Anthony Davis hit a three to fuel a 7-0 spurt that put New Orleans ahead, 69-68.
But the Bucks held the Pelicans to just one field goal for the remainder of the quarter, mounting a 9-2 run to take a 77-71 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The finally, Bayless sparked a late run for Milwaukee. The Pelicans got it to within three points, but Bayless came through with a big three-pointer to give the Bucks some breathing room.
“He’s shooting the ball as well as anybody right now,” Jason said of Bayless. “He has helped us win a lot of games. We missed him when he was hurt. Just like in the Miami game, he made a big three.”
After JB’s three, Milwaukee put together a 20-4 run to cruise to victory.
GIANNIS STAYS HOT
The Bucks didn’t miss a step playing on consecutive nights.
By the end of the first half, Antetokounmpo had 12 points nine assists and eight rebounds. He was one assist and two rebounds shy of becoming the first player since Jason on Feb. 26, 2010, with the Dallas Mavericks to put up a triple-double in one half.
Needless to say, Antetokounmpo got his triple-double before the final buzzer, giving him his fourth triple-double in last 11 games.
“Tonight he was able to do everything,” Jason said of Antetokounmpo. “When we started the game, I thought he did the best of setting the pace. And it was very fast.”
The Greek Freak scored 28 points, added 14 assists and 11 rebounds. Jabari Parker also contributed 23 points.
For the second night in a row, the Bucks got out to a fast start. Antetokounmpo found Monroe down low for a layup to put Milwaukee ahead 11-4. Middleton added to the momentum, splashing a trey of an assist from Antetokounmpo to make it 16-6. The Bucks grabbed a 20-10 lead, but the Nets came back to tie the game at 25 right before the end of the first quarter. Parker hit a 19-footer to give Milwaukee a two-point cushion with one quarter in the books.
Antetokounmpo threw down a terrific dunk early in the second quarter, to complete an 8-0 run that put the Bucks in control 33-25. Strong bench play kept Brooklyn in it. The Nets reserves combined for 19 points in the first half to claim a 51-50 lead at the break.
The lead stayed right there after another 12 minutes. Parker and Nets center Brook Lopez each had 10 points as the teams went blow-for-blow through five lead changes to enter the fourth quarter with Brooklyn holding a 79-78 advantage.
The Bucks trailed 91-84 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, but they slowly started to eat away at the Nets lead. A driving dunk from Antetokounmpo with 5:09 left in the fourth quarter cut Brooklyn’s lead to 96-95. Plumlee then scored of an assist from the Greek star with 3:17 left in the game to put the Bucks up 99-98.
“We know what it’s done internally but also growing as a leader on this team,” Jason said. “When you have the responsibility of four other guys on the floor, making sure everybody gets involved, you have to use your voice or you use the pass.”
The dime from Giannis sparked a 12-0 Bucks run that allowed Milwaukee to breathe easy in the final seconds of the game.
