The Milwaukee Bucks suffered their most humiliating loss of the season, getting boatraced 128-96 by the 20-48 Utah Jazz. Ryan Rollins led the Bucks with 15 points and five assists, while Ace Bailey dropped a career-high 33 points for the Jazz.
Game Recap
It was one of the ugliest first quarters all year for the Bucks, who went 6/17 and racked up six turnovers. Ryan Rollins and Myles Turner each nailed threes to start, getting the Bucks out to a 6-2 lead, but the Jazz—with their rag-tag lineup
of two-ways and 10-days—responded with a 13-4 run; Cody Williams had seven quick ones early. I wouldn’t say either team played all that well from that point until the end of the quarter, but the Jazz got a few cheapies in transition as the Bucks incessantly turned the ball over, leading 30-19 after one.
The Bucks finally kicked into gear to start the second, with some stops followed by threes from Bobby Portis and Taurean Prince, plus a transition layup from Cam Thomas—down just five, 33-28, after the opening few minutes. Kyle Filipowski would respond, though, scoring seven of the game’s next 10 points to ward off the Bucks once again. The visitors continued to shoot themselves in the foot, racking up their ninth turnover midway through the second, as Cody Williams attacked to the rack for his 19th point to put the Jazz up 48-40 with five minutes left in the half. Two-way Jazz sharpshooter Blake Hinson nailed a pair of deep balls to end the quarter for Utah as Milwaukee failed to score for nearly the final five minutes, down 64-44 at the half (gulp).
The Bucks did show signs of life early in the third, going on a 9-2 run in the first few minutes, with Ousmane Dieng, Kyle Kuzma, and Ryan Rollins leading the charge. Milwaukee got the deficit down to 12 at the six-minute mark, but threes from Elijah Harkless and the newly signed Bez Mbeng got it right back up to 18. The Bucks looked absolutely lifeless as the Jazz—who’ve been tanking virtually all season, and especially at this point of the year—kept hitting shots. At one stage, they had a game-high 23-point lead, up 91-68, late in the quarter. Bucks down 94-73 after three.
Well, that game-high 23-point lead for the Jazz was beaten on the opening possession, when Ace Bailey bombed away for his 21st point of the night to make it a 24-point edge. The Bucks continued to turn the ball over, racking up their 17th giveaway following a poor Cam Thomas pass. A few minutes later, Bailey and Hinson nailed another pair of bombs to boost the lead all the way up to 30 as Doc called a timeout in disgust. I’ll tell you what, if I told you that the Milwaukee Bucks, in the year 2026, would sub in their garbage-time lineup, down 30 with over seven minutes to go in against the 20-48 Utah Jazz, you’d have said I was crazy. Well, that’s exactly what happened. But let’s look on the bright side: at least Cormac Ryan scored his first points in a Bucks uniform. Silver linings and that, eh?
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks had 20 turnovers, a key reason they shot 10 fewer times than the Jazz.
