A BOARD GAME
Chicago’s second-chance points sink Bucks
Friday was National Ugly Sweater Day. Members of the Milwaukee Bucks organization, from co-owner Jamie Dinan to general manager Jon Horst and the team’s broadcast crew were decked out in garish, light-up, team-branded ugly sweaters.
The product on the floor matched the theme of the night. At least in regard to the home team.
Throughout the night, the Bucks played tight with the Chicago Bulls — a team that entered the BMO Harris Bradley Center with seven wins — but ultimately came up short, 115-109.
The defeat was the second in as many games for the Bucks this week with a matchup against the Rockets — the best team in the Western Conference — looming in Houston on Saturday. The Bulls improved to 5-0 since the return of forward Nikola Mirotic.
Chicago dominated the boards, especially on the offensive end. The Bulls grabbed 14 of their own misses, led by Robin Lopez, who scooped up six offensive rebounds. Bobby Portis had a team-high 27 points and 12 rebounds, including a pair of offensive boards.
Those extra chances resulted in 24 points for the Bulls.
“That was a big thing tonight,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said of struggling to secure defensive rebounds. “For us, they missed the first shot but they didn’t miss the second shot. We couldn’t get a rebound. Understanding Thon (Maker) and John (Henson), but it’s not just the bigs, it’s the guys that are on the floor.
“We just couldn’t come up with a rebound. Portis and Lopez dominated the boards offensively and they capitalized.”
With centers Henson and Maker falling short in their task of securing defensive rebounds — and then getting in foul trouble to boot — Kidd opted to go with a lineup of Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, Khris Middleton, Rashad Vaughn and Giannis Antetokounmpo for the final eight minutes of the game.
That lineup made up the three-point deficit it inherited but never strung positive outcomes together at either end. The Bucks tied the score with just under three minutes left, but a bucket by Portis followed by a Bledsoe turnover and a Mirotic three-pointer swung the tide heavily in favor of the Bulls.
After a timeout, Middleton got fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three free throws, but Mirotic got a layup through a Vaughn foul at the other end to push the margin back to five with 1:07 left.
Bledsoe and Vaughn then missed three-pointers on the Bucks’ next two possessions and that ended any hope of a comeback. As a team, the Bucks went 9 of 33 on three-pointers (27.3%), including 3 of 17 (17.6%) in the second half.
“You’ve got to keep shooting, you’ve got to believe the next shot is going in,” Kidd said. “We got a lot of wide-open shots that just didn’t go down for us tonight. You’ve got to play perfect when you’re down, defensively and offensively, and we couldn’t get stops nor could we make an open shot tonight.”
Antetokounmpo and Middleton led the Bucks with 29 points each, with Antetokounmpo adding 16 rebounds. Bledsoe had 12 points but also collected five turnovers.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Going deep: The Bucks had only 11 players available for Friday’s game due to injuries and two-way forward Joel Bolomboy going back to the G League. For one of the rare nights this season, everyone got off the bench for minutes in the first half.
The Bucks used their full complement of bench players by the beginning of the second quarter when Sterling Brown joined the fray to open the period and immediately splashed a threepointer from the corner.
Brogdon and Vaughn ended up playing the most off the bench, each logging extensive time in the fourth quarter. Brogdon finished with six points on 3of-12 shooting in 32 minutes and Vaughn added nine on 3-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes, including a missed three with 22 seconds left on a play out of a timeout.
Gaining confidence: Brown played only six minutes in the second quarter, finishing with the three-pointer, a block and a rebound. Brown has logged 35 minutes in six games, both the fewest on the roster.
Still, the rookie second-round pick has been growing in confidence as he’s toiled at practice without the benefit of playing time.
“Just making everything become second nature, especially on the defensive end all our sets and schemes and all that,” Brown said. “Offensively just getting the plays down pat … and just going out there and finding out how I can contribute.”
His efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Kidd has seen Brown be among the first to arrive for practices and shootarounds and respects his work ethic, saying, “it’s just a matter of time that he’ll get his chance.”
With Vaughn and Brown at the same position, Kidd says experience is the main thing.
“Rashad’s third year, so understanding the schemes up to this point gives Rashad the advantage,” Kidd said. “But that doesn’t mean Brown isn’t going to play.”
UP NEXT
Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (15-12) vs. Houston Rockets (22-4 entering Friday).
When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Toyota Center.
About the Rockets: Houston is the NBA’s hottest team, taking an 11-game win streak into its game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. The Rockets boast the second-best offensive rating in the league (115.4), just a shade behind the Golden State Warriors (115.5). Houston also owns a topfive defense, with its combination of success on both ends translating to a staggering point differential, with the Rockets outscoring teams 114.8 to 103.7 on a per-game basis. With 31.6 points, 9.4 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 40.2% on 10.8 threepoint attempts per game, Rockets guard James Harden is putting up MVP numbers. Add in that Houston is 12-0 with Chris Paul on the floor and it features one of the most versatile, talented rosters in the league and the Rockets have become one of the toughest teams in the NBA.