The Milwaukee Bucks win super ugly against the Washington Wizards in Khris Middleton’s Wizards debut. With Giannis saddled with foul trouble and a minutes restriction, Kyle Kuzma led the way for Milwaukee in his return to Washington with 19 points, five assists, and eight rebounds. The Wizards were led by no. 2 pick Alex Sarr, who posted 22 points and seven rebounds.
Game Recap
Predictably, Milwaukee got off to a slow start on offence on the SEGABABA, scoring just eight points in the first five minutes of the quarter. Of course, Middleton nailed a few of his patented mid-range jumpers—and drew a charge on Giannis—to put the Wizards up 13-8 at the first timeout. Without Dame and with Giannis on a severe minutes restriction, you could really tell how much they missed Bobby Portis’ ability to generate offence. Washington stretched their lead out behind threes from Corey Kispert and the newly acquired Marcus Smart. It was rough offensively for the Bucks (shooting just 36% from the field and 25% from three), down 19-32 after one.
Despite shooting 3/4 from the field, Giannis looked out of sorts early in the second, committing four turnovers and a silly foul on a three-point shooter. The Bucks got going slightly on O but kept making defensive errors, but were unable to eat into the Wizards’ lead. Finally, the Bucks got going a little bit late in the second: Kyle Kuzma hit a three and had multiple successful drives to the hoop, followed by a Lopez pick-and-pop triple. The Wiz led 56-50 at the half.
Giannis barrelled to the rim off the elbow attack for the and-one to get the Bucks going out of the half. Then they hit Rollins off the down-screen for the floater, followed by transition buckets from Kuzma and Antetokounmpo to grab Milwaukee’s first lead since the score was 2-0. Giannis drove to the hoop and got called for a charge to give him his fourth foul; Doc challenged the call, but it was unsuccessful. Luckily, the Wizards continued to miss, and the Bucks continued to make, forcing a Wizards timeout up 69-62 about halfway through the third. Kispert came in for the Wizards and immediately halted the Bucks’ run with a movement three. Then Giannis got his fifth foul off a sketchy call and had to go to the bench. The non-Giannis lineup was a mixed bag, but the line I would use to describe it is, “Kuz giveth, Kuz taketh away.” Bucks led 84-75 after three.
After having a rough game up to that point, Gary Trent Jr. nailed the mid-range and-one to give the Bucks their first points of the fourth. Then both teams went comically cold for six straight possessions before Ryan Rollins broke the seal with a transition three—Bucks up 90-76. KPJ, or “Scoot” as the team calls him, then exploded off some botched pick-and-roll coverage for a mean two-handed jam, followed by consecutive mid-range jimmies. The Bucks’ lead got down to 10, and Doc brought Giannis back in for the first time since midway through the third. Antetokounmpo then made two frankly really lackadaisical errors and got his sixth foul of the game. The wheels fell off for the Bucks during this period as Washington went on a 14-1 run. Khris, of course, nailed the triple to reduce the lead to one with a minute to go, but Lopez got free throws down the other end to get the Bucks’ advantage back up to three with 38 seconds left. Brook then got the monster block on the next defensive possession and should have gotten the ball on the mismatch down the other end, but Kuz took the three and missed, giving the Wizards an opportunity to tie it down 101-104. And, of course, the play was drawn up for none other than Khris Middleton, who missed the fading wing triple, thankfully. Bucks win, and I need a cigarette…
Stat That Stood Out
Giannis looked off in this one in a few ways, but his seven turnovers in 19 minutes stood out to me. I think his minutes restriction and unfamiliarity with his new teammates, along with some of the usual Giannis stuff (overdribbling, going too fast, etc.), really plagued him tonight in a game he’d probably like to forget (at least from a personal perspective).
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