Tonight Milwaukee rolled into L.A. to face the Lakers. Rookie phenom Lonzo Ball did not play and was out with an injury. That didn’t stop the Lakers from coming to play ball. This was a fight the entire game featuring two of the nicest young teams in the league. The Bucks big 3 came to play and combined for 94 points! This game featured a couple monster dunks from Julius Randle and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Enjoy the video below that shows a blow by blow, basket by basket account of the game.
The game was exciting from start to finish as the Bucks got the best of the Lakers in overtime. Eric Bledsoe continues to play good as he scored 39 huge points. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 27 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Khris Middleton continued to add to his breakout season with 28 points and 4 steals.
On the Lakers side rookie phenom Kyle Kuzma scored 27 points to led the Los Angeles Lakers who played without Lonzo Ball. Brook Lopez scored 20 points and Julius Randle who’s starting to look like a player the Lakers should resign scored 18 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
Bucks Beat Lakers In Overtime
The Bucks now find themselves one game out of the Wizards for the 6th spot, yet in 8th as the Heat have the same record as Bucks yet hold the tie breaker.
The Bucks finish out the west coast trip in Denver Sunday night vs a Nuggets team fighting for one of the last spot in the western conference.
Anytime these days that you travel to the Bay it’s not an easy task. Today the Bucks rolled into Golden State to face the Warriors and that’s a tall task. This time there were no slash brothers as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were each out with injuries. So the Warriors are minus 2 stars but the problem is the still got two more. Kevin Garnet and Demond Green are two of the better players in the NBA. Dremond Green is the reigning defensive player of the year and Kevin Garnet was the MVP of last years NBA Finals.
Durant Ejected
The Mercury News
In a game like this against one of the best teams in the NBA, short handed or not you gotta bring your A game. But right before the half Kevin Durant drove to the basket, didn’t hear the whistle and went off catching double techs and ejected. This put Golden State in a bad position and after that the Bucks opened up the flood gates. With less then 5 mins left in the 3rd quarter the Bucks had opened up a 20 point lead. They finished the 3rd with that same 20 point lead.
The Bucks handled business and did what you gotta do against a short handed, banged up team. You beat them and you beat them bad! The Milwaukee Bucks took advantage of the Golden State Warriors tonight and sent them home with there heads down! The Warriors made a run in the 4th quarter to make the score look closer but don’t be confused, the Bucks were in control of this game since the end of the 2nd quarter.
The Bucks just lost there second game to the Clippers in the last week. Not a good start to the 4 game out west road trip. With this loss the Bucks sink back into the 8th seed in the eastern conference. We got to get on the same page and clicking before the playoffs start in 7 games.
Deandre Jordan killed the Milwaukee Bucks on the boards. He grabbed 16 rebounds and scored 12 points. The thing is the Bucks actually out rebounded the Clippers 44-41. But the Bucks shot only 6-23 from long range and that was the difference in losing by 7 points in L.A. The Clippers featured a balanced attack of 5 players in double figures.
Clippers Beat Bucks 105-98
Washington Times
Giannis was Giannis scoring 26 points and grabbing 9 rebounds to go along with 7 assists and 5 blocked shots. Middelton scored 22 but that was not enough to get it done. Jabari Parker had a tough game shooting only 1-12 from the field and contributing only 2 points in 19 mins of action.
The victory for the Bucks over the Spurs is there second win in a row and has now moved them into the 7th seed. They now also find themselves one game behind the Wizards for the 6th spot. I personally don’t mind finishing 7th and facing the Celtics in the first round vs finishing 6th and drawing the surging Cavs and LeBron James.
Giannis Returns From Ankle Injury
Yahoo Sports
In The Greek Freaks first game back from the ankle injury that costed him a little time he leads his team over the Spurs. The Milwaukee crowd was happy to see a Bucks victory on a Sunday afternoon at the BMO Bradley Center. Giannis returned in form scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Eric Bledsoe added 23 points and Kris Middleton has 19 to help defeat the Spurs.
New additions Shabazz Muhammad and Brandon Jennings again provided a much needed spark and energy. The two seam to help fire the team up and bring a little life to the team that was missing.
Let’s hope the Bucks are finding a late season groove with this win over the Spurs. With only 9 games left on the regular season schedule. The Bucks still await the return of last years rookie of the year and starting shooting guard Malcolm Brogdon. If he can return and pop back into his place with the team right away the Bucks might be gearing up to be an extremely difficult out in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
The Bucks now head to L.A. to face the Clippers again on Tuesday. Hopefully they can redeem themselves for what happened on Wednesday in Milwaukee.
The Bucks went into Chicago without superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and managed to get the win vs a Bulls team with some injury problems of there own. Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Omer Asik were all injured. The Bulls came with a balanced scoring attack but didn’t have enough to handle the young Bucks.
Bucks Win Without Giannis
105-7 FM
Milwaukee had 7 players score in double figures including Shabazz Muhammad who scored 21 points in just 20 mins of action for the Bucks of the bench. In total Milwaukees bench combined for 60 points. Tony Snell scored 18 and Brandon Jennings had 16 to go along with Terry’s 10 and Thon’s 5. As far as the starters Kris Middelton led them with 16 points.
Jabari Parker returned to Chicago and started in place of the Greek Freak and played a season high 30 mins. Unfortunately he didn’t have his best scoring game and only managed to come up with 6 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
The win was much needed for the shorthanded Bucks as the went into Chicago and handled business as the jock for playoff positioning. The Bucks remain in 8th but only a half a game out of 7th and 4 games out of 4th.
The Bucks host the Spurs on Sunday and 2:30 in the afternoon at the BMO Bradley Center. The Spurs have much to pay for as they find themselves only a half a game out of 4th in the Western Conference.
Wednesday’s loss against the Clippers offered a distillation of the Bucks team that has persisted into the Prunty era: largely scoring with ease but not enough, squandering transition chances with poor decision making, and giving up all the wrong shots. The Clippers are a team tailor-made to make the Bucks look bad with how they run their offense paired with personnel. They have quick guards, a monster rebounding and rim-rolling center, and they run a lot of pick-and-rolls. With the exception of Bledsoe’s combination of strength and speed, Bucks guards are wholly incapable of fighting over a screen to stick with ball handlers, especially when they are so visibly outclassed in terms of quickness. The Clippers could instantly collapse the defense by running their meat and potatoes DJ high ball screen, forcing Henson to cover two in the paint and a weak-side defender to leave a shooter to tag DJ or hack at his arms. The Bucks really had no answer and continued to give up threes and paint points. The number of times Austin Rivers shook our guards with isolation dribble moves hurt my feelings.
Grim Snapshot of Bucks’ Issues
I was among those who believed a conservative defensive change was in the air when Prunty took over, and the first dozen games or so bore that out. However, it became clear that when the Bucks were again challenged by superior opponents, they–either by design or by trained instinct–fell into old aggressive ways.
They were gambling on steals or doubling in the post (often from one pass away) which led to predictable disaster, and fans could almost hear the old rationale for this manic set of principles. Jason Kidd’s brain parasite told him that with our length and ranginess, the resulting offensive efficiency of live ball turnovers would cancel out those rare capitalizations on our over-helping and gap-shooting. It might make some sense given our individual transition talent between Bledsoe, Giannis, and Jabari but it would help if anyone besides Jason Terry consistently knew how to make passes in transition. Whether it’s Giannis or Khris throwing passes far over the head of the outlet man, Jabari tossing a hook pass to Henson at midcourt, or one of our transition playmakers getting into the paint to find two teammates within arm’s length, the execution outside of a one-man show is atrocious (that is not mentioning whenever Bledsoe wants to pinball an entire transition defense by himself instead of looking for a pass out).
The Bucks schematic issues on both sides of the ball aside, winning at the margins is how games like this turn from losses to victories. The roster makeup composed of guards with minus speed and a dumpster fire of a center rotation presents some intractable problems in a league where high pick-and-rolls are the default way to break a defense down that tinkering and a coaching change can’t fully fix. But, as is often the case, the Bucks are doing little to help themselves.
With this loss it seems more likely than ever the Bucks will see a playoff reboot against a revitalized Raptors team in a 1-8 matchup. Assuming the Wizards are untouchable three games ahead of the Bucks, the seventh-seeded Heat have ten games remaining with half against tanking teams and an 82nd game matchup with the Raptors who at that point will presumably have nothing to play for. The Bucks meanwhile face playoff-caliber opponents in six of their eleven remaining games, with seven of the eleven coming on the road.
Bucks Lose Giannis to Sprained Ankle
ClutchPoints
When Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out for the second half of the game with an ankle sprain last night, many assumed the Clippers’ lead would slowly bloom en route to a comfortable win. To the Bucks’ credit they hung around and made it interesting, riding impressive offensive efforts from Khris Middleton and Jabari Parker who combined for 43 points. Parker notably stepped up in Antetokounmpo’s absence to record a season-high 30 minutes, and looked comfortable doing so.
However the potent offensive showing was not enough to match the Clippers, who dominated in the paint and from three. Deandre Jordan recorded 25 points and 22 rebounds, including 8 offensive boards which matched the Bucks’ team total. This paired with hot shooting from Austin Rivers, Tobias Harris, and Milos Teodosic–combining for 12-19 from three–was too much to overcome.
The Bucks face the Bulls in Chicago on Friday at 7pm. Milwaukee’s star Giannis Antetokounmpo remains doubtful.
In a game that could be a playoff matchup preview for the Milwaukee the Bucks went into Cleveland and the Cavs were ready. In Kevin Loves return he didn’t disappoint as he fired and hit several 3 point shots in John Henson’s face. The Bucks played tough for most of the first 3 quarters until Cleveland pulled away in the 4th. The Bucks seamed to fade away and fall asleep the end the first 3 quarters as pointed out by ESPN announcer Hubie Brown.
ESPN/NBA
Khris Middleton was red hot for most of the game tonight and had huge first and third quarters tonight. He shot 11-16 from the field and scored 30 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and was 11-11 from the field.
LeBron James was in form tonight recording a triple double well posting 40 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. But he didn’t do it on his own as the Cavaliers had 6 players scoring in double figures.
Bucks Lose To Cavs 124-117
The Bucks made the game look competitive at the end of the 4th but were outplayed by Cleveland who was the better team tonight. Good fight but Bucks Lose To Cavs 124-117.
Currently the Bucks are seeded 7th in the East and many might wonder what I’m smoking to suggest the Bucks could make the NBA finals this year. Well check out the not so crazy scenario for yourself…
SI.com
Like we just said the Milwaukee Bucks are currently seeded 7th in the Eastern Conference. That means as of today the Bucks would draw the 2nd seeded Boston Celtics in the first round. Now 6 weeks ago Boston was looking like the the favorite to come out the East. Now today as it sits the Boston Celtics are completely banged up. Obviously Gordon Hayward is out for the season but thats at the moment the least of the health problems in Boston. Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart are all out with injuries. Note that all should be ready by the playoffs but would have an understandable rust on them. Brad Stevens would have to fit those main pieces back in there spots and hope they can hit the ground running.
The point about Boston is right now the Celtics look vulnerable. A series with the Celtics is winnable for a healthy Bucks team. Especially the way Jabari Parker is looking in limited mins currently. The Bucks have 4 players on the roster good enough to average 20 points per game. If lasts years Rookie Of The Year Malcom Brogdon can return and be in form the Bucks are a problem for Boston and any other team in the Eastern Conference.
So if the Bucks can take down the Celtics in the first round they would then be forced to face the Legend that is King James a.k.a. LeBron James in the second. The Cleveland Cavaliers have had the most roster changes over the course of this season that I can remember for a team in recent years. The Cavs are constently trying to get things together and Tyronn Lue desperately is still seeking a consistent rotation. With the injuries the Cavs have currently, Lebron’s looming free agency and the fact the current roster has still never played with Kevin Love, the Bucks again find themselves in the middle of a perfect storm!
Yes imagine things falling apart for the Cavs by game 5 or 6. LeBron James screaming at his team and coach as the frustration and reality of losing becomes to much. The entire city of Cleveland looks in fear as The King starts to check out mentally and prepare of join his 2 homes in Los Angeles this summer. It could very well happen that the Bucks knock off a spirit broken Cleveland team. Ginnas giving LeBron his final farewell out the Eastern Conference and snatching the torch as the East’s best player!
At that moment the world would be dealing with the reality of what the East is without LeBron James. The 1st seeded Toronto Raptors after knocking off the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards in way to an easy path to the Eastern Conference finals, would now face the Milwaukee Bucks. Many would remember the Raptors knocked out the Bucks in 6 games last year. But this year is different.
How The Milwaukee Bucks Make The NBA Finals
The Milwaukee Bucks come of age and grow up in the playoffs against the Celtics and Cavs lead by one of the best 5 man lineups in the Leauge. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, Khris Middleton, Malcolm Brogdon and Eric Bledsoe. In a thrilling and exciting 7 game series that gives the league a little hope for the Eastern Conference. The Bucks pull off the upset in Toronto and leave a heartbroken Drake crying on the sideline!
This is How The Milwaukee Bucks Make The NBA Finals…
Bucks Defeat Hawks as 6 players score in double figures and Milwaukee handles business and defeats the Atlanta Hawks 122-117. Bucks star player Ginnas Antetokounmpo produced 33 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. Khris Middleton scored 23 points and Eric Bledsoe scored 19 points and added 9 assists.
105-7FM The Fan
Bucks Defeat Hawks
An underlined and encouraging takeaway from the game was that Jabari Parker continued to make great progress. Parker scored 15 points in 21 mins of playing time on 7 for 12 shooting from the field.
On the Atlanta Hawks side of things Taurean Prince scored 38 points and guard Dennis Schroder scored 19 points and 9 assists before being ejected late in the game.
The Bucks remain in the 7th seed but yet only 3 games out of the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. Let’s see if. The Bucks can get hot and move up out of the 7th seed.
