Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks waged a tough battle with a fellow playoff hopeful in the Detroit Pistons Monday night, but they couldn’t quite pull out the narrow road victory.
Milwaukee held a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter at the Palace of Auburn Hills, but it wasn’t enough. Detroit’s star center, Andre Drummond tipped in a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope miss in the waning seconds to send the Bucks away with a 92-91 defeat.
“I thought our energy and our effort and our concentration was at a high tonight. I thought we played very well for four quarters,” Coach Kidd said. “It’s a game of inches, and the ball bounced their way.”
Khris Middleton had a game-high 27 points for the Bucks, while Giannis Antetokounmpo added five assists to his a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double. Greg Monroe tacked on a double-double as well of 18 points and 10 boards. Milwaukee shot 53.9 percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from three-point range in the defeat. The Bucks also outscored the Pistons 54-38 in the paint in a performance that made J-Kidd proud, despite the final result.
“There are a lot of positives,” Jason said. “I thought our bench played some positive minutes. And our starters, being able to come back in and Khris carried those guys in the fourth quarter.”
The first and third quarters of the game belonged to Milwaukee. The Bucks got out to a quick start, outscoring the Pistons 30-17 in the first quarter.
Middleton gave the Bucks an 11-7 lead with 8:25 to play in the period with a one of his two three-pointers on the night. The Pistons tied the game at 11, but a 6-0 run capped off by a Monroe layup put the Bucks ahead. Giannis then took his turn to provide a spark, driving in for a dunk to keep the lead at six. That came as part of an 11-2 Milwaukee run to close the quarter.
The Bucks took their 13-point cushion but were outscored by the Pistons by 10 points in the second quarter. Turnovers killed Jason’s crew in this quarter. The Bucks coughed it up six times, and the Pistons followed 10 points from Marcus Morris to cut the lead to three, 48-45, at the break.
Out of the half, Milwaukee regained control. Giannis and Middleton each hit long threes to push the lead to 10, 64-54, early in the third quarter. The Bucks lead inflated to 13 in the frame but was back down to nine, 74-65, in time for the fourth.
In that final period, the Pistons slowly chipped away at the Milwaukee lead until a bucket by Drummond tied it at 84 with four minutes to go. The Bucks regained the lead and held it until the waning seconds.
Milwaukee led 91-90 with Jerryd Bayless, a career 82.4 percent free throw shooter, at the line. But the normally automatic guard missed both, giving Detroit life.
“We have to have an understanding that each possession down the stretch is valuable and we have to come up with something,” Kidd said. “Offensively, we all believe that when Bayless gets those two free throws again, he’s going to make both of them.”
The Pistons had nine seconds to drive down the court and make a shot. A three-point attempt by Caldwell-Pope rimmed out, but Drummond rose above Bucks defenders to tip in a layup and give the Bucks a 92-91 lead with just over a second on the clock.
That tip-in sealed the deal. Afterward, Jason had no choice but to tip his cap to Drummond, who leads the league in offensive rebounds (4.9) and total rebounds (14.9) per game.
“The ball has to bounce your way, and for them, the ball bounced to their best rebounder and he made a heck of a play and a heck of a tip-in,” Jason said. “We play great defense on their last shot, force a miss and the ball bounces to the best offensive rebounder in the league. We did just about everything right and still lost the game.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks have a tough test ahead, as they face continue their road trip Wednesday with the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers (50-29).
The Cavs have won three out of their last four games. This will be the third of four meetings between the two teams this season. Cleveland won the first two: 108-105 in double overtime in Milwaukee and 115-100 in Cleveland.
Round 3 will tip at 6 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
