The 2015-16 season is winding to a close for Coach Jason Kidd’s Bucks, but Milwaukee is still taking every opportunity possible to showcase their development.
That was on full display on Sunday as the Bucks bounced back from a tough 124-109 loss to the playoff-bound Boston Celtics on Friday and topped the 76ers 109-108 in overtime at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
In his return from a three-game absence due to injury, Khris Middleton led the way for Milwaukee in Philly, pouring in 36 points tie his season-high along with nine assists, six rebounds and four steals to boost the Bucks to the win.
“Khris looked good, being out for a week,” Coach Kidd said afterward. “Thirty-six points. I was joking with him that maybe we should give him more time off so he can have that type of energy.”
After a disappointing result in Boston just two nights earlier, Milwaukee played with energy from the jump in Philly and led for the entirety of the first half. That lead was built on the strength of a 12-2 run to start the game for the Bucks.
Middleton capped that run with a pair of free throws for this first points of the night. He later added a three that gave Milwaukee their largest lead of the quarters. However, the 76ers eventually found their groove offensively and cut it down to three, forcing Coach Kidd to call a timeout. The Bucks came out of that break with some energy and pushed their lead back to nine before a Nik Stauskas three at the end of the frame made it 29-23.
Undeterred, Milwaukee opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run, which was capped off by a trey from rookie Rashad Vaughn that gave the Bucks a 39-23 lead. Giannis Antetokounmpo added a trey of his own right before the break, which put Milwaukee up 62-45 at the half.
Early in the third quarter, the Bucks pushed that lead to its highest point at 18 and it was still 14 with four minutes left in the frame. But the Sixers ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to trim it to just six, 76-70 at the end of three. Milwaukee gained some control early in the fourth and when
John Henson knocked down a pair of free throws three minutes into the quarter, the lead was back to 10. Henson was key in the victory, with an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench.
However, that was the last double-digit lead of the night for the Bucks.
Philadelphia kept coming in the final minutes of the frame and Milwaukee struggled to fend them off. They finally knotted the game at 94 with 2:20 to go in regulation on a driving layup by Ish Smith and Smith even briefly gave the 76ers a two-point lead when he drove through the lane for a dunk that made it 98-96 with 36 seconds left. However, Antetokounmpo came up big on the other end with a shot that was goaltended by Nerlens Noel, to tie the score.
The Bucks then got a chance to win in regulation after coming up with a stop on defense, but Middleton misfired, sending the game to overtime. The 76ers scored the first two points of the extra session, but the Bucks answered with a 9-2 run to take a 109-102 advantage. Philly refused to die and tallied the next six points, and possessed the ball with a chance to win in the final seconds. However, Milwaukee’s big men held strong defensively, and three 76ers shot attempts failed to drop, as the Bucks walked away with the gutsy overtime win.
“Any time Giannis or Miles
[Plumlee] or John are involved in those type of situations, they tend to come up with the ball or make the right decision,” Jason said.BEATEN IN BEANTOWN
The Bucks rarely had the chance to put forth that type of effort in Boston, where after a strong first quarter they felt flat and got rolled over by a Celtics team making playoff plans.
Milwaukee led early in a blistering first quarter that saw the teams combine for 65 points, but over the long haul, the Bucks simply couldn’t keep pace with the red-hot Celtics and couldn’t overcome a total of 19 turnovers, including nine in a game-changing second quarter.
“They’re healthy, they’re preparing, they’re playing for that third seed,” Jason said. “They put the pressure on us and we turned the ball over. When you do that here, it can be a long night.”
The Bucks came out of the gate strong led by Antetokounmpo, who finished with 27 points, most of any player on the court. The Milwaukee point man stood out early, stretching over defenders for a slam while drawing a foul and sinking the subsequent free throw just two minutes into the game to give his Bucks a 7-3 lead.
Later, Antetokounmpo connected from deep to extend the Milwaukee advantage to 11, its highest point of the night. Giannis finished that opening frame with 17 of his 20 points and partner in crime Jabari Parker tacked on 10 of his own, but Boston closed the quarter on a 7-2 run that cut the lead back down to five, 35-30 after one.
The x-factor on the other end proved to be Tyler Zeller, who scored a career-high 26 points off the Boston bench. Nine of those points came in the decisive second quarter, as the Celtics reserve group turned a deficit into a lead less than two-and-a-half minutes into the frame. The fourth-year big man got to the basket at will early in the second grabbing rebounds, scoring baskets and drawing fouls in the process. His two free throws just over three minutes into the second gave Boston a lead and he followed them with an alley-oop dunk that made it 44-41.
“Their bench came in and ran,” Jason said. “Their bigs, you could tell they put an emphasis on running our bigs and that’s when they took control of the game. We were playing uphill from that point.”
Milwaukee managed to fight back after the starters returned to the floor and briefly regained the lead when Antetokounmpo drilled a triple with three minutes left in the first half. But Boston closed the quarter on an 11-3 run to seize control of the contest with a seven-point halftime lead.
The Celtics extended the lead throughout the second half, as the Bucks struggled to keep up. They opened the third with a 5-0 run to make it a double-digit differential and that never wavered the rest of the way. By the end of the third, Boston was up by 21 and although Milwaukee did manage to outscore Boston in the final frame, it was far too little too late to buoy the Bucks.
“I thought our first group’s intent was to compete, but the guys that came off the bench turned the ball over,” Jason said. “We didn’t get shots then they took advantage of that.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks (33-47) wrap their last road trip of the season with their penultimate game of the season, on Monday night in Orlando where they will take on the Magic (34-46).
It’s the fourth and final meeting of the season between the season and Milwaukee will be looking to win the season series. Both meetings at the Bradley Center have gone the way of the Bucks, including a 113-110 thriller there on April 1. However, in Milwaukee’s lone trip to Orlando this season, back on Nov. 27, the Magic emerged victorious 114-90.
Monday’s game will tip off at 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
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