Getting right back to their winning ways
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following a down-to-the-wire game against Philadelphia on Saturday that saw their 16-game winnings streak end at Fiserv Forum, the Milwaukee Bucks had to hold off the Washington Wizards, 117-111, in the final moments Sunday night at Capital One Arena.
The Bucks have not lost two straight since Jan. 12-14 in Miami.
“No matter the circumstance we’re here to do our job,” Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously we had big game (Saturday) night, guys are tired, we landed at 3 a.m. I don’t even know what time we got to the hotel. Late. Wasn’t able to have walkthrough and shootaround but at the end of the day we show up and try to do our job and just play hard, and guys I think played hard tonight and that’s why we’re 8-1 (in back-to-backs).”
Jrue Holiday scored the Bucks’ final six points, including going 4 for 4 from the free throw line, to clinch the victory. He also drew a huge offensive foul by the Wizards with a five-point lead to give Milwaukee an additional possession late.
Antetokounmpo gets triple-double...or does he?
The Bucks’ superstar played nearly the entire first quarter and looked like himself in making three of his first five shots and scoring nine points and handing out three assists. But when he subbed out with about 90 seconds left in the frame, he immediately had his right wrist and hand taped by athletic trainer Scott Faust.
Antetokounmpo tugged at the tape through the rest of the quarter and in the break before the start of the second, and he finally removed it before checking back in.
He didn’t play with any tape the rest of the way, but he would occasionally massage and flex his hand during breaks in play. Late in the third quarter he went up for a one-handed dunk and the ball slipped away, and as the ball bounded away he looked down at his right hand almost in disbelief.
After the hot start, Antetokounmpo finished with 23 points as he did most of his damage from the free throw line. He officially took only seven more shots over the final three quarters, going 6 for 12 from the field and 11 for 15 from the free throw line. He also had a season-high 13 assists.
He got his 10th rebound in the final seconds, putting up a “shot” that hit the bottom of the backboard and came right back to him.
“I was thinking about scoring the ball but I feel like in those situations it’s best to kind of keep the ball,” he said. “Yeah, I just tried to play the game smart and kind of stole one.”
He then winked before he walked away.
Not so cute, the NBA says. The rebound was taken away by the league Monday after its regular review of game stats.
Antetokounmpo sprained his right wrist falling into the stanchion against Chicago on Feb. 16, Milwaukee’s last game before the all-star break. He didn’t miss a game with that injury, however, as he returned to play on Feb. 24.
When asked after the game if he reaggravated the injury, he shook his head no.
He also shook his head no when asked if it affected him throughout the game.
Carter, Ingles spark Bucks off bench
Washington head coach Wes Unseld Jr. marveled at how many three-pointers the Bucks had been getting up over the last month-plus of games, and how many were going down in particular over the last five games or so.
That trend continued Sunday night as the Bucks once again rained threes in attempting 49 and making 22. The ignitors of that attack were reserves Jevon Carter and Joe Ingles, with Ingles making his first 3 triples of the game in the first quarter then Carter catching fire once he entered the game in the second quarter.
“This is a tough back-to-back,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Very, very late night for us. To get that from Jevon, 20 and all the threes. And Joe, really this is his second back-to-back that he’s played. Last night he was pretty... he wanted to play tonight. He asked that he get the minutes and get the opportunity and there was some vintage Joe there for a good stretch in the first half and some big plays late, too.”
Ingles went 3 for 3 in seven first-quarter minutes, then Carter went 6 for 10 after that. It was the third time this season Carter has made at least 6 threes.
“I mean, just taking the ones that was there,” Carter said. “I felt like they was, when I was bringing it down, they just kept backing up so I just was going to be aggressive in taking the shots.”
Ingles then hit a massive corner three with 2:37 to go to give the Bucks a fourpoint lead, a slim margin that proved just enough down the stretch. He finished 4 for 8 from behind the three-point line for 14 points.
“It was really important for us,” Grayson Allen said of his teammates’ efforts. “I think we needed every little help of scoring that we could get. It was definitely a late night last night getting in, so everyone’s appreciative of the total team kind of 1 through 10 or 11 contribution tonight.”
Wizards hustle their way to a close game
The Wizards, who are fighting for a play-in spot and a shot at the playoffs, entered the game without Kyle Kuzma, a 21.4 point per game scorer and their leading rebounder, and Monte Morris, a 40.6% three-point shooter. But they still had Bradley Beal (22.9 points per game) and Kristaps Porzinģ i̧ s (22.8), and the two carried their team throughout to keep the Wizards close.
Though the Bucks led for most of the contest, Porzinģ i̧ s and Beal took turns carrying the load offensively and the rest of the Wizards made sure to limit the Bucks to one shot attempt per possession. Washington outrebounded its bigger opponents 56-46 overall and had 20 on the offensive glass. The Bucks scored just eight second-chance points, while the Wizards worked their way to 20.
Porzinģ i̧ s scored 24 and had 14 rebounds and Beal 33 and nine.