With just a few games remaining in the 2016-17 season, the meaning intensifies for each contest, and Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks found themselves on the losing end of a playoff seeding battle Thursday night.
Milwaukee fell to the Indiana Pacers, 104-89, on a night where the Bucks simply weren’t at their best.
“In March and April, everyone is trying to win,” Coach Kidd said. “Teams that aren’t even in the playoffs are trying to win, too. You can’t take anybody lightly and you can’t exhale.”
The Milwaukee offense struggled with both Khris Middleton and Greg Monroe off their game. Middleton finished with only 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting against the Pacers. Monroe only had four points and a -22 rating.
“It happens,” Kidd said. “We believe Khris and Moose (Monroe) are going to bounce back. They didn’t have their A-game, but they can still affect the game in a positive way. Hopefully, going to Philly we can do that.”
The game was tied at 38 in the second quarter, but the Pacers went on a 10-0 run, and later a 13-0 run in the third quarter when the game was within two.
“We had way too many turnovers,” Jason said. “We talked about it before the game; we’ve got to take care of the ball. Get shots, make or miss. That puts you in a bad situation defensively because they’re going to take advantage of it, and they did.”
The Bucks have three games remaining during the regular season, and coach Kidd is hoping his team will finish strong.
“We’ve got to cross the finish line of stage one, and that’s getting the notch by your name to make the playoffs,” Kidd said. “We had an opportunity to do that tonight and we didn’t. But the way that we’re playing is not the way we were in March. We’ve got to get back to playing the way we did in March, defensively and offensively.
Up next the Bucks finish their three-game road trip in Philadelphia when they play the 76ers on Saturday.
