The Milwaukee Bucks have won three games in a row after defeating the Sacramento Kings Saturday night 117-91, and as a team are playing great basketball on both sides of the floor.
While the Bucks have scored at least 117 points in three consecutive games for the first time since 2009, head coach Jason Kidd is most pleased with his team’s performance on the defensive end and the unselfishness of his guys on offense.
“First, we’re focused on the defensive end. We’re getting stops,” Kidd said. “There are multiple guys touching the ball in one possession. We’re passing up maybe a good shot to get a great shot, and I’ve said that the last two games, and I think our guys really believe that.”
TELETOVIC FINDS HIS TOUCH
Mirza Teletovic, who the Bucks signed in the offseason to help spread the floor, did exactly that Saturday night.
The Bosnian sharp-shooter finished the game with 22 points on seven of nine shooting from beyond the arc.
“It’s easy to shoot the threes when you’re wide open, and when you have the range that Mirza has, he got one to go in and that kind of opened up the gates for everybody else,” Kidd said. “I don’t think he ever thinks he’s struggling. So, no matter what he hasn’t shot from the field, it probably is a credit to his haircut. He felt lighter, he felt fresh and he was making them from everywhere, he even attempted one from half court, that’s how good he felt. But I think not just his offense, I thought his defense was really good tonight.”
GIANNIS DOES IT AGAIN
It was another terrific all-around performance for the Greek Freak, who finished the game with 17 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and four steals.
“I thought Giannis’ fingerprints were all over the game, both offensively and defensively, and so if the the plus-minus says plus-25, then that’s what he did,” Jason said.
While Coach Kidd does not truly believe in the plus-minus statistic, the former great point guard recognizes how great his lead ball handler is playing.
“I think its been great since last season. Once we gave him the ball he has had a big impact offensively and defensively for us, that’s why he has the ball,” Kidd said. “And so I think it has been a carryover, it’s not a surprise, but for him you can see his confidence is growing, he’s getting better each time he takes the floor.”
TEAM EFFORT
Things came pretty easy for Milwaukee last night. After being tied at two early in the first quarter, the Bucks took the lead and never looked back.
“I thought in that third quarter we took control of the game, and for those guys who played at the end, I thought that gave a lot of credit to those guys sitting on the bench that they played hard, and that’s the way we have to play,” Kidd said.
The Bucks forced 17 turnovers, but more impressively scored 26 fast break points while only allowing the Kings to score one.
“There was a couple things. Even when we missed shots we came up with some offensive rebounds and we capitalized and finished, so we kept them from running on us by putting the ball in the basket and setting our defense,” Kidd said. “But when we did miss shots I thought we made a conscious effort to get back.”
The Bucks also did a great job defending All-Star center Demarcus Cousins. The big man was limited to 15 points and four rebounds in 28 minutes.
“Again, Cousins puts a lot of pressure; (Ty) Lawson puts a lot of pressure on your defense because they can get to the basket,” Jason said. “And Cousins being seven-feet tall, and handles the way that does, he can put a lot of pressure on the defense, can get to the basket and can find open guys.”
NEXT UP
Kidd will hope to have his team prepared for their second back-to-back of the season, this time facing off against the Dallas Mavericks.
It will be a tough road matchup, but Kidd likes the growth his young team is showing.
“I think it’s just for us growing pains. We can’t take anybody lightly, we haven’t accomplished anything, so ‘playing down’ is not in our vocabulary,” Kidd said. “We always have to play up, because you know as a team we haven’t accomplished anything, and each time we take the floor is an opportunity for everybody to do something as a unit.”
The game tips off at 8 p.m. CT.
