Another uphill climb
Antetokounmpo, Bledsoe fuel big rally to help defeat Denver
The Milwaukee Bucks swear they want to be a team that plays well for a full 48 minutes. They don’t like their trend of struggling off the jump and falling into holes, but they can’t pinpoint why it keeps happening.
Yes, it’s a problem. However, it’s not as big of a problem if you keep finding ways to climb out of those holes to claim wins.
That’s exactly what the Bucks did Monday night against the Denver Nuggets, bouncing back from a first-half deficit that topped out at 17 points to earn a 104-98 victory at Fiserv Forum.
“We needed this win. We stayed poised,” point guard Eric Bledsoe said in a postgame, on-court interview. “We’ve done a great job all season of locking in at crunch time.”
This time around, the Bucks relied on the combination of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bledsoe to carry them back, with each making major contributions throughout the final 24 minutes to help turn things around.
Antetokounmpo got going first by putting together the kind of third quarter you might expect from an MVP-caliber player who needs to put his team on his shoulders. He attacked the rim often, pivoting into space and throwing down dunks to bring both is team and the home crowd to life.
One interior bucket at a time, Antetokounmpo put up 15 of his 29 points in
the third quarter alone, helping the Bucks to eventually take the lead. After a sloppy, sluggish first half that had the Bucks down, 53-36, with about 21⁄2 minutes until intermission, Milwaukee owned a 78-77 lead heading into the final period.
Bledsoe wasn’t sitting idly by in that third quarter. His aggressive defense made things tough for Denver’s guards, and he also contributed seven points to the comeback, joining Antetokounmpo in playing the whole period.
But he saved his best moments for the fourth quarter.
With the game tied at 89 with just over five minutes to go, Bledsoe kicked into high gear. On a night when the Bucks struggled from three-point range – 11 of 36 – Bledsoe nailed a couple of treys in row to give Milwaukee six points of breathing room.
He wasn’t done. Bledsoe then tossed an assist to Brook Lopez for a threepointer and then lofted a perfect alleyoop to Antetokounmpo that gave the Bucks an eight-point lead with just over two minutes to go. That dunk was Antetokounmpo’s only basket of the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets didn’t go quietly, though. Gary Harris and Nikola Jokie splashed back-to-back three-pointers, making it a two-point game with less than a minute to play. Needing a bucket, the Bucks got one from a usually reliable source who had struggled throughout the night.
Heading into that pivotal moment, Khris Middleton was 0 of 7 on threepoint attempt. He has battled all night on both ends, but his shots – even open ones – wouldn’t fall. But with a hand in his face and the shot clock ticking down, Middleton came through, splashing a three-pointer with 27.6 seconds left that all but sealed the win.
Icing the victory fittingly was a task saved for Bledsoe, who ended his 23point performance by splitting a pair of free throws. He did that scoring on 8 of 10 shooting from the field while also adding five rebounds, five assists and three steals.