Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks fought hard after a slow start, but they couldn’t quite dig out of that early hole Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets 110-98.
Milwaukee found itself in a 32-15 hole after one quarter of play, and the gap reached 26 before halftime, making a second-half comeback too tall a task.
“The first quarter put us in a hole, but we’ve been there before and we’ve fought. It just took us until after halftime to fight,” Coach Kidd said. “Every possession, every game means something and tonight we got off to a bad first half but for those guys who played in the second half we won the third and won the fourth and that’s the way we have to start the game.”
In the first half, the Nuggets outscored the Bucks 63-37. Milwaukee gave a tremendous fight in the second half, outscoring the Nuggets 61-47 and at one point cutting the deficit down to 12, but it was too little too late.
“So we fought. In that second half it’s no different than when we were in Denver. It was the exact same game. Same outcome, it just got a little bit closer, it came down to one possession,” Jason said. “Understanding right now in our locker room we don’t understand the urgency, we’re young, what we’re fighting for and that’s a playoff spot. This is growing pains. This is something that we have to go through the process of understanding we don’t have that many games left and our energy and effort has to be high. Anytime whoever starts and whoever plays, we have to compete and we did that in the second half.”
Even with the loss, it was a strong game for Khris Middleton, who finished with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.
“His minutes are restricted, so we have to make sure we have some minutes left if we can get it under 10. I thought he got going there in that second half,” J-Kidd said. “I thought the ball movement was great in the second half. Rebounding the ball, except late there in that fourth, was high for us and that’s what got us back in the game.”
Asked whether or not he would consider making some lineup changes, Kidd said it’s a bit challenging when so many guys aren’t at 100 percent.
“We’re giving everybody an opportunity. We would love to start Khris but we’re going to try and keep him until he’s ready to start to come off the bench so we’re running out of guys healthwise,” Jason said. “We’ve got to play the guys that can suit up and that play as hard as they can and they did that in the second half.”
Up next the Bucks host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
