Hitting cold stretch at bad time
NEW ORLEANS - With the way the Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans play, there was no question Wednesday night’s game was going to include plenty of offense.
That’s the way it went, as the backand-forth, high-energy game stayed tight until the final six minutes of the fourth quarter. That’s when the Pelicans kept their offensive onslaught going and the Bucks faded on the way to a 115-108 loss that snapped Milwaukee’s threegame winning streak.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 32 points on 13 of 24 shooting while DeMarcus Cousins (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Anthony Davis (25 points, 10 rebounds) carried the Pelicans to the win. As a team, New Orleans made 13 of 25 three-pointers, including a back-breaker from Cousins with 22.3 seconds left that put the game at its final margin.
“I think they hit threes — threes have been our killer for the last two years,” Bucks gaurd Malcolm Brogdon said. “They made threes down the stretch and we didn’t contest them. That hurts and that wins games.”
In a game that featured 10 ties and 17 lead changes, there were plenty of runs throughout. Milwaukee opened the fourth quarter with one of the largest uninterrupted spurts, taking a seven-
point advantage with a 9-0 stretch. Brogdon featured prominently in that run, making three in-between shots — two floaters and a finger roll — while Antetokounmpo hit 3 of 4 free throws.
New Orleans bounced right back by relentlessly attacking the inside. With Davis and Cousins doing the bulk of the damage, the Pelicans put together a 12-4 run over three-plus minutes to take a 99-98 lead with 7:01 left.
That’s when Bucks coach Jason Kidd brought back starters Khris Middleton and John Henson. However, he left starting point guard Eric Bledsoe, who had played nearly 29 minutes to that point and all but three seconds of the third quarter, on the bench and kept DeAndre Liggins in the game.
About 30 seconds after play resumed, Bledsoe went to the scorer’s table to await his chance to check in. He watched as the teams traded buckets, with Middleton nailing a corner three to pull the Bucks back within one with 5:34 remaining.
That was the last Milwaukee hoop Bledsoe would witness from his perch on the sideline. Not because he checked in, but because the Bucks didn’t score again until he did.
“Geez, someone hurry up and get fouled or something — ball go out of bounds or us go on a run or something,” Bledsoe said when asked what he was thinking while waiting at the scorer’s table. “I was just thinking anything positive.”
Pelicans guard E’Twaun Moore scored on a 7-footer, Bucks guard Brogdon missed a floater and Cousins emphatically threw down a missed threepointer by Jameer Nelson to push New Orleans’ lead to five — its largest advantage of the game — with 4:20 left.
Middleton got a great look at a corner three but couldn’t get it to fall and Cousins hit Jrue Holiday for a layup with 3:39 left that extended the Pelicans’ lead to seven and prompted Kidd to call a timeout to get Bledsoe in the game.
“I mean, that’s what happens,” Bledsoe said. “The momentum shifted majorly before I got in. It happens. We stayed in the game most of the game, this was a game we could have won, but we’ve got to move on.”
UP NEXT
Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (15-11) vs. Chicago Bulls (7-20).
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center. About the Bulls: It’s been a difficult season for the rebuilding Bulls, who lost 20 of their first 23 games, including 10 in a row from mid-November through the first week of December. Things have picked up recently, though, with the return of Nikola Mirotic who missed the first 23 games due to a facial fracture.