The Milwaukee Bucks appeared ready for the weekend as they defeated the Miami Heat 116-108 on Friday night.
Jason Kidd’s team got off to an incredibly quick start, scoring 42 points in the first quarter and 65 points in the first half.
“The first quarter I thought was a great carryover from our last game. The ball moving, the ball wasn’t sticking. Guys were very willing passers and we got a lot of wide open shots that we made,” Kidd said. “Then I thought the second quarter, being able to keep it going, understanding when you have a big quarter like that sometimes you have a little letdown. But I thought the guys did a great job in that first half.”
The Bucks held onto a large lead for most of the third quarter, including at one point a 23-point advantage.
“I thought that was something to carryover playing against San Antonio and then also being able to do what they do best and that’s not settle. Pass up a shot to get a better shot was something I thought the guys did a great job tonight,” Jason said. “Some guys had some wide open looks but they sacrificed and passed it and when you do that good things will happen. I thought the trust, it was was just a great trust game. Carryover from the game and shootaround, guys are starting to trust one another on the offensive end and it’s fun to watch.”
Jabari Parker was the leading scorer for Milwaukee, finishing the game with 24 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 19 points, eight rebounds and had seven assists.
“You can see the guys are getting better understanding what the third quarter is all about. That’s something that we’ve had a understanding of we haven’t played our best basketball and after scoring sixty-something points in that first half, it’s easy to come out and relax and we didn’t. So you tip your hat to those guys. Again for 48 minutes they went small there, made their run but guys didn’t panic. We kept playing,” J-Kidd said. “Jabari made some great shots offensively, getting to the basket, not settling and then Giannis too so playing through those guys late was good for us tonight.”
As a team the Bucks made 27-of-31 free-throw attempts and scored 48 points in the paint.
“I think just being aggressive, that’s our bread and butter is getting to the paint, starting in and working our way out,” Kidd said. “Tonight the guys didn’t settle. They got to the paint, we got fouled and we made free throws.”
Milwaukee allowed Miami slightly back into the game with 34 fourth quarter points; however, the Bucks limited the Heat’s Hassan Whiteside to just 19 points and nine rebounds.
“I think you look at everybody. We’re a team defense and we’re team rebounding. We need everybody to come back and help each other,” Jason said. “We knew Whiteside was going to cause a problem, that’s what he does no matter who he’s playing against he’s going to go for the offensive rebound. We knew we needed to be able to slow him down a little bit and I thought we did a really good job tonight.”
Greg Monroe and Matthew Dellavedova had nice games for coach Kidd off the bench. Monroe finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, including 12 points in the first quarter. Dellavedova scored nine points and eight assists.
“You can start Delly and have Malcolm (Brogdon) come off the bench and he’ll be the one with the eight assists. It’s just those two have a great feel for the game and what the team needs at that time,” Kidd said. “They’re very unselfish. They both understand the game and it’s easy to leave one in and you feel very comfortable and they’re going to run the team on both ends of the floor.”
Following the win, the Bucks traveled to Atlanta to face off against the Hawks on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately for Kidd, it was a different result than Friday night, as the Bucks lost 111-98 and three of the last five games.
“It’s hard to win on the road and they were the better team this afternoon. We had our opportunities to cut into the lead but anytime like I said we tried to get close, we give up a three on the other end off an offensive rebound,” Kidd said. “Especially the one that stands out is they get the offensive rebound and Dunleavy makes the corner three so it’s something that we have to address to get better.”
The Hawks made 13 three-pointers and shot 50 percent from behind the arc.
“We knew that going in we had to guard the three-point line and we didn’t do a good job this afternoon so we have to get better at that,” J-Kidd said.
Antetokounmpo scored 33 points for the Bucks while adding eight rebounds and six assists. Parker quietly flirted with a triple-double, grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out nine assists and scoring eight points.
J-Kidd’s crew unfortunately couldn’t stop the newest member of the Hawks, Mike Dunleavy, who had a terrific game off the bench for Atlanta, scoring 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
“He came in and he changed the game for them shooting the three and getting to the free-throw line,” Kidd said. “I thought he did a really good job of being patient and knocking down the shots he normally does.”
Dwight Howard also had a big game for the Hawks, recording a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass.
“His presence, he can change shots, he can block shots and so for us we have to do a better job of engaging him and then being a playmaker,” Jason said. “Or if we do miss the shot we have to be able to clean up and have the tip-ins go in for us.”
Up next the Bucks play the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday afternoon.
“It’s just the schedule. You’ve got to play the games that you’re scheduled and we’ve got a quick turnaround tomorrow afternoon,” Kidd said. “Another game our bench is going to be needed. Our depth is going to have to show up tomorrow.”
