After heart breaking losses the night before, both the Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs were looking to rebound on Wednesday night. The Bucks lost three straight going into the game and the defending champion Spurs added another to the loss column with a 114-103 win in Milwaukee.
Photo from NBA.com
Despite leading at the end of the first quarter 28-27, the Bucks found themselves down 63-54 at halftime after allowing the Spurs to outscore them 36-26 in the second quarter. The game continued to get away from them as the second half began. Milwaukee had a chance and got in single digits in the 3rd quarter. As the momentum began to shift, Jerryd Bayless committed a senseless foul on Marco Belinelli which eventually was ruled a flagrant-1 and gave San Antonio the opportunity to get three easy points and the Spurs continued to roll until the end of regulation.
All five starters of the Bucks were in double digits led by Giannis Antetokounmpo with 19 points, shooting 8 for 16 from the field along with nine boards and two blocks. However, it wasn’t enough to stop the Spurs who shot 50% from the field and 40% from 3 point range. Danny Green led the all scorers with 20 points, going 7 of 16 with eight rebounds and four assists.
“You look at the second quarter and we gave up {36 points} and they took control of the game at that point.” said head coach Jason Kidd. “We were fighting uphill and couldn’t knock down any of our threes”
The Bucks shot 48% from the field and was 50% from the 3 point line, however the 50-50 balls didn’t drop when the Bucks needed them to the most.
The Bucks currently hold the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference and being on a four game losing streak isn’t helping the cause.
“You have to put more energy and effort into the game. We have 14 games left, so there is plenty of time. We are in the 6th spot and will continue to get better. We have to get healthy.” Said Kidd.
“Just play hard, man. Play hard for 48 minutes, get back to the way we were playing in the beginning. Things will work out,” Kris Middleton (10 points and seven rebounds) added.
“It’s always tricky. We have to stick together even more. It’s when you see the team as a team,” added Ersan Ilyasova, who scored 17 points on 7-14 shooting. “When you come to place like this, it’s always important to stay together. It’s easy to give up. We kind of went through it last year, losing a few games in a row.”
“There are too many games to just sit on one. We’ll move on after we watch this film. We’ll learn from it and get ready for Brooklyn,” Kris Middleton mentioned.
The Spurs can fly back to San Antonio and rest easily. Popovich, a man of few words, said after the game,
“We played well.” When asked about beating the Bucks he added, “It’s no different than any other team. It’s basketball, not magic. You have to do things consistently and we’ll more than the other team for the 48 minutes.”
San Antonio improved to 42-25 and Milwaukee is currently at .500 (34-34). Milwaukee will face Brooklyn Friday and then host Cleveland on Sunday.