Jason Kidd unleashed his bench on the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, and the Milwaukee Bucks reserves brought back one of the team’s best wins of the year.
Memphis took a 73-68 lead into the fourth quarter, where Jason left his five starters on the bench for the entire final 12 minutes. The second unit outscored the Grizzlies 28-13, holding them to 4-of-24 shooting (16.7 percent) in the final period of Milwaukee’s statement 96-86 victory.
“I think from top to bottom, that’s one of our best wins on the season. Our starters cheering on our bench, and our bench being able to finish the game,” Jason said. “They were like grasshoppers out there, that bench. They had a lot of energy and spunk. I guess the coach has been holding them back a little bit. They earned the minutes to finish that game.”
Milwaukee’s bench was tremendous, paced by 13 fourth-quarter points from Tyler Ennis. The Bucks also combined for eight blocked shots in the final period. The game whipped up to a fever pitch when John Henson soared in and viciously swatted an attempt by Memphis enforcer Matt Barnes.
Henson stared down the veteran and earned his second technical foul of the night, the BMO Harris Bradley Center zealously cheering him as he walked into the locker room. Memphis cut the lead down to seven after Henson’s first foul, but Jason attributed the team’s fortitude down the stretch to his young point guard.
“When you look at Tyler, he’s composed,” Jason said of the 21-year-old Ennis. “When you get to see him play more, you’re going to start to love what he does on the floor. He’s always under control, his teammates trust him. It became a little hectic there at the end, but he still ran the team, both offensively and defensively. He made some great plays and he made some big shots.”
Milwaukee had an excellent start to the game offensively. Seven Bucks scored in the first quarter as they shot 63.2 percent collectively. Greg Monroe led the way with seven, while Jerryd Bayless and Jabari Parker each had six, but already in that first, the bench was making noise. Damien Inglis tallied four points in three minutes and change as the Bucks battled the Grizz to a 32-32 draw after one.
“We have to figure out what he can do now that he’s become healthy,” Jason said of Inglis. “We need to get him in some games, and I thought no better time than early. He was great all night, both defensively and offensively.”
The Bucks struggled to generate any offensive momentum in the second quarter. They shot just 31.6 percent while Memphis followed a nine-point quarter by Lance Stephenson to a 53-47 halftime lead.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greg Monroe combined for 15 points off 6-of-7 shooting in the third quarter. Giannis, Monroe and Khris Middleton scored seven straight points top open the quarter and put Milwaukee ahead, but they couldn’t sustain that play. Memphis closed the period on a 6-0 run to take a five-point advantage into the fourth.
Jason started the final frame with his second unit of Ennis, Inglis, Henson, Mason Plumlee and Rashad Vaughn on the floor, and Ennis instantly put the Bucks on top. The Syracuse product knocked down a pull-up jumper to cut it to three, and after a Plumlee block and Henson steal, Inglis dropped it to one with a pair of free throws.
Then another defensive play gave the Bucks the lead: Ennis swiped an errant Stephenson pass and Inglis converted, throwing down a fast-break dunk to put Milwaukee on top, 74-73. That kind of defense was key for Milwaukee all night. The Bucks blocked 17 shots compared to three from Memphis. They also added seven steals.
“The two bigs playing together, John and Miles, were good,” J-Kidd said. “Being able to protect the paint, block shots, rebound—we felt we need to rebound the ball well because they’re very good at getting second or third looks.”
After their stout defense, Plumlee and Henson dropped back-to-back buckets to push the lead to three. Then Vaughn came through with a big trifecta to make it six. All five players on that second line scored in the fourth, and the Bucks held a 40-17 bench scoring advantage on the night.
“That team is so unselfish,” Jason said. “Looking at Damien being able to make plays, Tyler, Miles is a guy who is going to finish around the basket, then Vaughn is a guy who can stretch the defense by shooting the three. I thought he had a wonderful time on the floor, turning down some threes and making some mid-range shots for us.”
Ennis scored after the Vaughn three, but then the sharpshooting rookie came back and sunk a nice mid-range jumper to push the lead to 10. The Bucks led by 10 when Barnes and Stephenson combined to hit three free throws after Henson’s technical and cut it to seven.
But that’s as close as Memphis came. Ennis continued his big night with three clutch buckets. The first came off a great defensive set from Plumlee, and the third put the Bucks up by 11 with 1:00 remaining.
The tenacious Milwaukee defense held Memphis to just one field goal in the final minute, and sensing victory with 5.5 seconds to go and a 10-point lead, Henson put the exclamation point at the end of the win. With time winding down, he erased a shot attempt underneath by Barnes and gave him a triumphant stare afterward.
Both players earned technical fouls after the play, and Henson was cheered down the tunnel and into the locker room by the Bucks faithful. In just his second game back from a back injury, Henson totaled four blocks, three points and two steals while giving a plus-19 scoring advantage in his 14:24 of work.
“Being able to have John on the floor—when he plays at the level he did tonight, he can be one of the best defensive bigs in the game,” Jason said. “Then on the offensive end, being able to get the ball to him in the post. He’s so unselfish, sometimes we have to remind him to shoot the ball, but tonight he took advantage of his opportunities to score the ball.”
Despite sitting the fourth quarter, Antetokounmpo still stuffed the stat sheet once again with team-highs in points (15) and assists (11) while adding six rebounds. Monroe was next with 14 points and 10 boards, while Middleton and Bayless were both in double figures with 10.
The difference, though, was undoubtedly the bench. The second unit combined to shoot 16-of-28 for 40 points with 23 rebounds, six assists, four steals and 11 blocks with an average plus/minus of 12.8 to the good
“That group spends a lot of time together in practice. They know each other, they trust one another,” Jason said. “They covered one another, and you can really see the trust in that second group.”
NEXT UP
After some rest, the Bucks (30-39) will close their three-game homestand on Sunday against a Western Conference playoff hopeful in the Utah Jazz (33-35).
Utah beat Milwaukee 84-81 earlier this year in Salt Lake City. The Jazz will ride a four-game win streak into a weekend back-to-back: Saturday at the Chicago Bulls and Sunday at Milwaukee.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT from the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
