Jason Kidd prepared his Milwaukee Bucks for what was coming against the high-octane Portland Trail Blazers offense, and it paid off with a big win.
Milwaukee endured an offensive onslaught featuring 17 3-pointers, and a combined 53 points by Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, and sent its Western Conference foe home with a 115-107 victory.
“We talked about it pregame that they’re going to shoot 3s and we didn’t want to get into that contest. Portland is a very talented team. We talked earlier about how much pressure they put on you. They’re going to make some 3s, but the way we handled the 3s they hit in the fourth quarter, we never panicked.”
DELLY KEY LATE
The Bucks carried a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter, but fought back to within two with just four minutes to go. But as soon as Portland battled to within one score, Matthew Dellavedova canned a 3-pointer to give the Bucks some breathing room.
That shot sparked a 9-1 run that all but sealed the deal for Kidd’s crew. Dellavedova was second on the Bucks with 17 points on the night.
“They’re going to make some 3s, but the way we handled the 3s they hit in the fourth quarter, where they cut that 11-point lead, we never panicked,” Jason said. “We continued to run the offense and share the ball. I thought Delly, sitting for a bit longer, he was fresh and he made some big plays for us.”
LATE LOCKDOWN
The high-scoring affair teetered back and forth throughout the first half. Milwaukee claimed a three-point lead with three minutes to go in the second quarter when Lillard got hot from deep. Portland’s star guard canned three trifectas, and McCollum added one to give the Blazers a seven-point advantage going into the half
In the locker room Coach Kidd addressed his team’s ball movement, and its defense on Lillard, and both changes paid dividends in the second half.
“They ended that first half with 3s and we found ourselves down,” Coach Kidd said. “I thought, with the way that we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks, we weren’t moving the ball. The ball was sticking a little bit. We talked about it at halftime and we made a little change. We put a little bit bigger body on Lillard. I thought he was going score 50. We just tried to make it tough. We got lucky he missed some shots, but the defense in the second half was one of our best.”
GIANNIS TRIPLES UP
Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t have a great offensive night. While Jabari Parker carried the scoring load with a team-high 27 points, Giannis was just 4-of-10 from the floor. While The Greek Freak didn’t have his offensive touch, he helped out all over the floor, to the tune of a 15-point, 12-rebound, 11-assist triple-double, with four blocks and two steals on the side.
“Maybe it wasn’t a fluid game for Giannis, but this is what he does,” Jason said. “He fills up the stat sheet. He is a winner and he helped his team find a way to win tonight by getting other guys involved. That is the maturity of a 22-year-old, that you can see a leader is growing right in front of us.”
This was Giannis’ second triple-double of the young season, and the seventh of his career, leaving him just one shy of the Bucks franchise record, set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
