Greek Freak steals show
Down the road, Saturday night may be remembered as the night Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo put up a career-high 44 points, though there’s no reason to believe he won’t eclipse that number at some point in the future.
But it was Antetokounmpo’s defense that won the night in a 113-110 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
With the Bucks trailing by one with 30.3 seconds left, Antetokounmpo dogged Blazers guard C.J. McCollum, poking away a steal. He then corralled the ball and sprinted to the other end, throwing down a dunk to put Milwaukee ahead with 11.4 seconds left. But he wasn’t done. Portland executed a pick-and-roll that left Jusuf Nurkic a semmingly solid look at the basket from in close. That’s when Antetokounmpo slid over and rejected Nurkic. Khris Middleton secured the rebound and was fouled, knocking down a pair of free throws to bring him to 18 points on the night.
With the Blazers out of timeouts, Brogdon stole their inbound pass heaved to halfcourt and that was it. The M-V-P chants that have become commonplace at the Bradley Center in just two games echoed until well after the game ended as Antetokounmpo earned the celebratory on-court interview.
Antetokounmpo’s incredibly efficient outing — he made 17 of 23 shots, had eight rebounds and dished out four assists — carried the Bucks throughout the night. He catalyzed big runs throughout the game, beginning in the second quarter.
With the Bucks trailing by nine early in the sec-
ond, Antetokounmpo turned things around nearly by himself. He came off the bench to score seven straight points to kick off what would become a 27-9 run over seven minutes. That spurt helped Milwaukee take a 60-55 lead into the second half.
Late in the third quarter, he did the same thing after a stretch on the bench. With the Bucks down by one with about 21⁄2 minutes left, he dished an assist to John Henson then scored six straight points — including his first three-pointer of the season — to ignite an 8-0 run.
He then finished out strong with 17 fourthquarter points, including the winning dunk, to carry the Bucks to the win.
Along with Middleton’s scoring output, Antetokounmpo got plenty of help from Tony Snell, who scored 17 points on 7 of 7
shooting and didn’t miss until the fourth quarter. Portland was led by Damiam Lillard and C.J. McCollum, who had 26 points each. BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Impact of shorter preseason: This season at the behest of the NBA Players Association, the league opted to shorten preseason camp down to three weeks, including four or five preseason games. That allowed the league to start the season a week early and eliminate instances of playing four games in five nights.
Thus far, there has been a number of highprofile injuries, including Brooklyn’s Jeremy Lin rupturing his right patella, Golden State’s Draymond Green needing an MRI on his left knee and others.
Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd said Saturday night that he sees a correlation between the injuries and the truncated preseason. It’s among the reasons why he pushed his team especially hard before the real games began,
knowing they needed to be in especially good shape.
“I would rather have the time before the season to prep, to get guys ready so that the product can stay on the floor,” Kidd said, noting he saw the injuries coming. “Right now you’re going to have the product sitting . ... I think it’s got to be reviewed because, again, people are coming to see the product and the products are going to be in suits and that’s unfortunate.”
Portland coach Terry Stotts wasn’t on board with Kidd, who hopes the league reverts to its past structure.
“NBA athletes take care of themselves,” Stotts said. “I think having one less week of training camp, I don’t think there’s any correlation with that at all.”
Stotts reflects: As a Bucks assistance from 1998-2002 and the team’s head coach from 20052007, Stotts has plenty of positive memories about the team and the Bradley Center.
Heading into his team’s final trip to the Bradley Center, Stotts mentioned that he remembers the 2001 playoffs especially fondly. That was the last time Milwaukee won a postseason series, advancing all the way to the conference finals and going to seven games against the Philadelphia 76ers.
As much as he enjoyed the Bradley Center, he knows the importance of the team’s new arena.
“The new building is huge,” Stotts said. “I’m really happy for the city, I’m happy for the Bucks. I’m glad the Bucks are staying here. I’m glad everything worked out. I talked to Senator (Herb) Kohl today and I’m happy for his legacy that he was able to sell the team and keep the team in Milwaukee and to get an arena.”
Foul upgraded: Greg Monroe’s foul of Derrick Rose in the fourth quarter Friday night was upgraded from a common foul to a flagrant 1. Rose turned his left ankle on the play and missed Cleveland’ s game against Orlando. UP NEXT
Teams: Charlotte Hornets (1-1) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (2-1). When: 7 p.m. Monday. Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center.
About the Hornets: Charlotte has not had its whole team together all season and that’s not going to change anytime soon.