Big D takes another big L
Winners of eight of their last nine, the Bucks annihilated the Mavericks last night 137-107—a season-high scoring output—on the second night of a road-home back-to-back, sweeping the season series and moving to a season-best 11 games over .500. Huge nights from veteran 20,000 point club member Damian Lillard (34) and newly-minted 20,000 point club member Giannis Antetokounmpo (32) were done for both by the three minute mark of the third. Kevin Porter Jr. recorded a triple-double in just under 20 minutes, finishing with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 14 assists. Klay Thompson had 28 for Dallas. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.
What Did We Learn?
I hate to be a wet blanket on a very professional and needed victory, but this second-unit lineup that replaces AJ Green with Taurean Prince doesn’t really work. Green’s plus/minus on the year is fourth-best on the team, and he features in Milwaukee’s three best five-men groupings (minimum 100 possessions), all at least +19.3 per Cleaning The Glass. I wrote a bit about the KPJ/Green/Gary Trent Jr./Kyle Kuzma/Jericho Sims group in this week’s Tuesday Tracker, who are now a cool +6.6 in 92 possessions after their efforts in Atlanta, winning their fourth quarter minutes 16-9.
In stark contrast, four of those guys with Prince subbed in for Green, that quintet was outscored 17-9 to start the second quarter on Tuesday. GTJ missed last night, so Doc tried the KPJ/AJG/TP/Kuzma/Sims lineup from the 1:07 mark in the first up nine. They allowed Dallas to begin the second on an 11-4 run before Giannis re-entered after nearly three minutes. Overall, they were -3. Doc went to them again up 30 late in the third and they actually extended the lead to 35 in their nearly six minutes on the court. After last night, +2 against this husk of a Mavs squad doesn’t convince me this lineup should see much run.
Three Bucks
For this version of the Mavs, there was just no stopping Giannis.
Back to the positives! As you likely have heard by now, Giannis surpassed 20,000 points last night, now a group of 52 men is nearly entirely comprised of Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers. He scored Milwaukee’s first six points on two pullups and two free throws, with only one attempt in the restricted area during the first quarter. But he quickly got inside out of halftime, racking up a rather effortless 12 points before his evening was finished, accruing 32 and 15 on 13/20 shooting. The best part of it all, though? A perfect 6/6 at the charity stripe. He’s 76.5% there over his last five games.
There was no stopping Dame either.
Eye contusion after taking an elbow from Clint Capela on Tuesday? No problem for Lillard. He and Giannis were dueling in the best possible way last night, trading back leading scorer honors seemingly every time up the floor. With 34, Dame took home the crown for the NBA’s top scoring duo, and he did not miss his first shot attempt until the 5:03 mark of the second quarter. That 6/6 start included four treys, and overall he was 11/15 from the field, 7/7 at the line, and 5/8 from downtown.
KPJ laid the groundwork for his third career triple-double in the first half.
It kind of snuck up on me, but Porter Jr. was at seven rebounds and eight assists at halftime, with six of those dimes coming in just under five first-quarter minutes. He hit 10 assists first soon after checking in for his second half stint, but added four more in the early stages of the final frame. This outing plus his 12 fourth-quarter points on Tuesday makes it seven times in double-digits as a Buck in ten games since being acquired for MarJon Beauchamp at the deadline. MarJon Beauchamp!
Bonus Bucks Bits
- After 25 minutes and 15 points on 6/10 shooting in Atlanta, Trent was listed as out for this one with right knee soreness. Ideally, this two-day layoff will do him some good.
- Ryan Rollins was a late scratch after Doc Rivers’ pregame press conference for personal reasons. Hoping everything is well with him.
- Wednesday was the sixth time since the All-Star break where the Bucks have had six players in double digits. Green (18), Kuzma (17), KPJ, and Sims (both with 10) all got there in the second half. This only happened seven times in the season’s first 53 contests.
- Sims shot a perfect 5/5 from the floor, the first time he hit double figures since last February 29th as a Knick.
- Green was 6/9 from deep, perhaps emerging from something of a slump (by his high standards), with a merely average 36% over his last 15 games.
- As mentioned, Dallas could only dress eight players last night. Of their 14-man standard roster, only six played, and they even were missing one of their three two-way guys.
- Giannis is the sixth-youngest player to ever hit 20k, just eight days younger than when Buck legend Oscar Robertson did it. The only faster players? LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan. Talk about elite company.
- The Greek Freak wasn’t the only one to hit a milestone: Brook Lopez moved up to 19th on the all-time list in blocks, ahead of Larry Nance Sr., his new teammate Pete’s father. He’s eight back of Kevin Garnett at 18. Dame also moved into 41st all-time in assists above Baron Davis, 89 away from John Havlicek at 40th.
- Jamaree Bouyea got his first minutes and points as a Buck, burying a floater that had me thinking:
Up Next
In an odd scheduling quirk, the Bucks again have two days off just like they did on Sunday and Monday, before another back-to-back, though both are at home. They’ll face Orlando on Saturday evening. You can catch the action at 7 p.m. Central on ESPN, FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin or stream it on our Playback and YouTube channels.
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