The Milwaukee Bucks were able to take the Cleveland Cavaliers to overtime on Tuesday night; however, that wasn’t the case Wednesday night, as the defending champs strolled to a 113-102 victory.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd saw his team get within three midway through the third quarter, but from there on out the Cavs proved why they’re the best team in the league.
“We fought. They had control of the game from the start and that just shows why they’re the champs,” Kidd said. “The score might have read that we were down three, but they were in control of it the whole way. We get it there and we take a couple of bad shots and they capitalized on that. So it’s a lesson learned for us to get better, we fought on the road, everybody participated, no one got hurt, so we’ve got to get ready for Friday.”
Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo had their usual terrific nights for the Bucks. Parker scored 27 points and Antetokounmpo finished with 28 points, five rebounds and five assists. However, Jason was left wishing for more efficiency and movement from the Milwaukee offense.
“I think one, the ball stuck, we lost a little trust, we had been moving the ball for the last four or five days and for the last 48 hours we stopped moving the ball. When our team, like ourselves, only has four turnovers at one point going into the fourth quarter that means we’re not sharing the ball,” Kidd said. “We’re a team that turns the ball over with the intent of passing to our teammates, so again the ball stuck, we’ve got to get better at moving the ball and trusting each other.”
While the two young Bucks played well, it was the two veteran Cavs that stole the show. Kyrie Irving led the game in scoring with 31 points as well as a career-high 13 assists. Lebron James chipped in with 29 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
“For the last 48 hours to see those two, they put a lot of pressure on the defense and we understand why they’re the best team in the league. They’re the champs and they showed that again tonight,” Jason said. “They showed it last night. They never panic. They’ve seen everything and for a young team like ourselves we’re going through that and so hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and get ready to go against Washington on Friday.”
Eight Cavs players who attempted at least one 3-pointer, and every one of those made at least one long-ranged shot. As a team, Cleveland made 15 trifectas and shot 55 percent from beyond the arc, while the Bucks only made nine and shot just 40 percent from distance.
“They shoot the three at a very high rate. They got guys who can shoot them, it seems like their whole team can shoot them,” J-Kidd said. “They spread the floor, they share the ball, they move the ball from one side to the other and it starts with their best player in Lebron being unselfish and it just goes through everybody and everybody’s giving up shots to get a better shot and so this is something for us to learn from.”
TUESDAY OT THRILLER
Two nights prior, the Bucks came up just short of their second victory over the defending NBA champions this season. But while Kidd’s team put up a good fight, James and the Cavaliers were too much to handle in a 114-108 Cleveland victory.
“It was a great game,” Kidd said. “The guys fought back from being down, we took the lead and then it comes down possession by possession and we fell short tonight.”
The Bucks outscored the Cavs 22-16 in the fourth quarter, and finished the game on a 7-0 run to send the game to overtime. James hit a 3-point shot with 24 seconds left to give the Cavs a 110-108 lead. On the ensuing possession, Jabari Parker missed two free throws that would have tied the game.
Following Parker’s missed free throws, Kyrie Irving capitalized on his two free throw attempts that sealed the deal for Cleveland.
“It’s basketball. The ball just didn’t go down for us. If the ball goes down, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) doesn’t get the sixth foul, but it didn’t,” Kidd said. “Giannis had the ball I thought for a minute and then Lebron makes a heck of a play to come up with a steal.”
Parker led the Bucks in scoring with 30 points and added nine rebounds.
“Jabari was going, and his teammates made a conscious effort to get him the ball and I thought he responded in a positive way by scoring the ball or finding guys, getting to the free throw line, he had a heck of a game for us tonight,” Jason said.
Antetokounmpo finished with another double-double, this time scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Kidd was also pleased with Antetokounmpo’s defensive performance, as well as John Henson’s.
“They’ve been huge. When those two are active, they’re just as long as anyone in the league, both seven feet they cover the floor, they protect their teammates and they’re very good if one gets beat there’s another one,” J-Kidd said. “I’m not going to call them the twin towers, but they actually help each other and they help the guys on the floor if they get beat. John is a special player because he can guard on the perimeter. He does a really good job if we ask him to guard three guys who can shoot the three on the perimeter.”
While the Bucks might have lost, rookie Malcolm Brogdon had two highlight dunks that caught the nation’s eye.
“They were great,” Kidd said. “As a rookie he’s playing extremely well and not just those two plays, I thought he played well tonight and we’re going to need him to play well tomorrow.”
It was a tough night for Milwaukee from behind the arc, shooting just 26 percent from three-point range.
“It’s just the way the game goes; you’re going to make some shots, you’re going to miss some shots. There’s a lot of threes being taken and so for us our strength is in the paint and we’ve got to be able to finish and tonight we didn’t finish when we had to,” Kidd said. “We got great looks, and hopefully tomorrow we can finish if we get those same looks.”
Coach Kidd realizes he has a very young team, but he sees them making progress and learning things in these close games.
“They learned a lot,” Jason said. “You’re going against the world champs and you took them down to the wire.”
Up next the Bucks host the Washington Wizards on Friday to start another home-and-home series.
