Bucks look to get better in frantic finishes
The Milwaukee Bucks had three chances to tie or take the lead in the final 78 seconds of their loss Wednesday night in Phoenix, an end-of-game situation that quite frankly they haven’t had much experience with this season.
The Bucks have played just eight games that finished with a score differential under
10 points, and of those only four have included situations in which a win or a loss could be decided in the closing plays. The Bucks are 1-3 in those games:
Loss at Boston on Dec. 23
Win vs. Dallas on Jan. 15
Loss at Brooklyn on Jan. 18 Loss at Phoenix on Feb. 10
Boston: Jrue Holiday hit a threepointer to give the Bucks a 120-119 lead with 70 seconds left. After that, they missed two shots before Jayson Tatum’s banked-in three over Giannis Antetokounmpo gave Boston a 122120 lead. With four-tenths of a second left, Holiday’s inbound lob to a cutting Antetokounmpo led to a loose ball foul on the Celtics. He missed the second of two free throws with a chance to send the game to overtime.
Dallas: Khris Middleton gave the Bucks leads of 109-105 and 111-109 in the final two minutes before Brook Lopez made it a three-point game with 1.6 seconds left by making a free throw. The Mavericks went 2 for 6 in that span, and Luka Dončić was forced to heave a 50-footer at the buzzer to try to tie the score.
Brooklyn: There were four lead changes in a 40-second spurt in the fourth quarter, capped with a threepointer by Middleton that put the Bucks up, 123-122, with 55 seconds left. James Harden missed a three coming back, but he rebounded his miss to set up a three by Kevin Durant and a 125-123 Nets lead with 36.8 seconds left. Middleton missed a three, but then Brook Lopez came up with a steal to set up an inbound play to tie or win the game. This time Holiday tossed it to Middleton in the corner, he was forced into a dribble and a contested attempt rattled out.
Phoenix: The Suns played with a five-point lead in the final two minutes, before it was erased by a three by Middleton and a dunk by Antetokounmpo with 47.8 seconds left. Devin Booker made a free throw with 32.6 seconds left to give the Suns a 125-124 lead.
The Bucks’ first opportunity to tie or take the lead came when Antetokounmpo posted up Jae Crowder, with Middleton providing the entry pass.
Only Crowder slipped around Antetokounmpo – pulling the chair or not – and stole the ball with 26 seconds left. Booker was forced into a 20footer on the other end, leading to another Bucks inbound scenario with 2.8 seconds left.
With Holiday sidelined, Donte DiVincenzo was the inbounder. To his right, Middleton took to the corner with Chris Paul in defense.
“’CP3’ was there and as I turned my head back to throw it to Giannis I could see in the corner of my eye (Paul) just leave in the corner and I heard Khris yell,” DiVincenzo said. “But it was already too late. We’re living with Giannis doing that. We have all the confidence in the world he’s going to make that shot.”
Deandre Ayton set up above the three-point line and Crowder was the free throw line, so Antetokounmpo wasn’t going to get to the rim. He caught the inbound and pulled up for a 20-footer that went long.
After the games against Boston, Brooklyn and Phoenix all involved were more than satisfied with where the ball ended up and the looks Middleton and Antetokounmpo got. They just didn’t go in.
Antetokounmpo said practice is always the key to improving in such instances, but with an every-other-day schedule, that time is limited.
“Just trust one another,” he said. “Obviously I’m not going to say it’d be good to have close games because who wants to have close games? We want to beat teams by, you know, 10, 15, 20. But when we have close games we take advantage of it, we learn from each possession. Moving forward, we run the same play I hope me and Khris don’t turn the ball over. We learned from this.”
Where the Bucks hope to improve off those have little to do with the actual final act, but rather the situations that led to them.
Boston: The Bucks put up four shots in the final two minutes, with only Holiday converting. The Celtics went 3 for 4 in that span.
Brooklyn: Milwaukee went 3 for 6 in the final two minutes, but the Nets went 3 for 4 – and the winner was set up thanks to an extra possession created by a long offensive rebound.
Phoenix: The Suns were 0 for 4 on mid-range jumpers in the final two minutes, which helped the Bucks tie the game. But, Middleton and Antetokounmpo put it on themselves and their late turnovers.
“That’s the part that we gotta execute better,” Antetokounmpo said. “Me and Khris; Khris had the wide open shot, he didn’t take it. Then I had to duck in and (Crowder) pulled the chair on me and we turned the ball over. That’s the part that we have to get a shot off, no matter what happens.”
In the closing minutes of these three games the Bucks forced one turnover – DiVincenzo’s steal of Ayton’s pass with 1:24 to go in the Suns game. It directly led to Middleton’s three, which set the stage at the end of the game.
Making a buzzer-beater will be a regular season highlight if and when that occurs, but the lesson to take is to remove that scenario altogether or give themselves an even cleaner look at the winning shot.
“It’s good for us, it’s growth for our team,” DiVincenzo said. “Looking forward to the playoffs, you’re not going to have blowouts in the playoffs night in and night out. You’re going to have close games. You’ve got to lock in. Sixty seconds left, you gotta get a couple stops.
“I think it’s good for us to have this early on and go through adversity of not getting the game-winner. But I think the more we are in that position, I think you’ll see us throughout the year get better and better at that.”