Milwaukee makes it eight in a row behind Connaughton’s career-high 43 points
In the regular season finale, the Milwaukee Bucks rode a Pat Connaughton career-high of 43 points to a 140-133 overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons. Kyle Kuzma followed up PC’s performance with 22 points, all in the first quarter. Malik Beasley was the leading scorer for Detroit with 23 points.
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?
There wasn’t much that we could take away from this one given how many starters sat out, but one big takeaway was the performance of Kyle Kuzma. He only saw action in the first quarter, but boy, was he able to make a huge impact. In that opening frame, he shot 8/10 from the floor, including 5/7 from the perimeter. Him achieving this stat line in the opening frame made him the seventh player in NBA history to score 20+ points in 12 minutes or fewer. With how cold his shot has been, this was a performance that felt like it was needed from him. Postgame, Doc said the exact same thing. The Bucks will surely be relying on him in the first round against Indiana.
Three Observations
Pat Connaughton…my goodness.
It’s been more of a down season for PC this year, but wow, did he produce in this regular season finale. In 44 minutes of action, he poured in a career-high 43 points. He’d take 29 shots and connect on 16 of them, including five 3-pointers. Whenever the Bucks were looking for a bucket, Pat was able to get one. His big buckets is what maintained separation down the stretch. It was unfortunate that they weren’t able to get the job done in regulation, but still, the job eventually got done. I would’ve guessed that Pat’s career high would’ve been at least 30, but it was actually 25. Additionally, PC snagged a season-high 11 rebounds, giving him the double-double. That was his first one of the season and his fourth of his career.
Pete Nance also had a day.
Now, Pete Nance won’t be getting minutes in the postseason, but it was awesome to see him get his first career start. In that action, he poured in 19 points in just over 43 minutes. Coming into this one, you knew that there was going to be opportunities for guys like Nance to show out. It was fun to see him take advantage of the moment and make it worth it. Overall, he earend a career-high in points with 19.
The Bucks are hitting their stride at the right time.
I mean, could you be on an eight-game winning streak at a better point of the year? This winning streak matches their season-best and is the second-longest winning streak to end a season in franchise history (14 games; Feb. 28-March 27, 1973). Their perfect 8-0 record in April marks the first time in franchise history that the team has been undefeated in April. It’s the third most wins without a loss in a single month in franchise history (10-0, February 2023; 13-0, March 1973). Last, how about this? Milwaukee’s 125.3 points per game this month are the most in the month of April in franchise history.
Bonus Bucks Bits
- J.B. Bickerstaff issued a coach’s challenge in the third quarter. Doc then issued one later in the quarter. That made it seem like he didn’t want to get out as soon as possible for the final round of the Masters, haha.
- There were a bulk of career highs today. In addition to Connaughton, here are the rest. Tyler Smith earned career-highs in minutes (30), points (20), FGM (6), and 3FGM (4). Pete Nance earned career-highs in minutes (43), points (19), FGM (7), rebounds (6), 3FGM (5), assists (5), and blocks (2). Jamaree Bouyea earned career-highs in minutes (47), points (15), assists (7), FGM (5), FTM (4), and blocks (2).
- Doc’s postgame was hilarious. With the Masters on the line, he came into the room and said that he tried to get Darvin Ham to do postgame availability but he wouldn’t. He then complained when more and more reporters kept asking questions. It was great.
- Liam and Maverick were sitting with Giannis on the bench throughout the game. The three of them even were celebrating some made threes by the Bucks together. That was neat to see.
- Pat Connaughton is now the fourth player in Bucks history with a 40/10/5 game. The others? Giannis, Kareem, and Khris Middleton.
- In today’s crazy statistic, this marks the first time that the Bucks have won their season finale in 12 seasons. Wild.
Up Next
The first round of the NBA Playoffs begins on April 19. Exact dates and times for when the Bucks play will be announced later. Stay tuned to Brew Hoop for news regarding broadcast information, dates, and game times. You’ll also be able to catch the action on our Playback and YouTube channels.
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