Out of all teams that have given the Milwaukee Bucks trouble, the Washington Wizards have seemingly given them the most, beating Milwaukee for the second time this season to end 2025. CJ McCollum hit the game-winning
shot with one second left, and Giannis missed at the buzzer to win it. The Bucks went the entire 2025 portion of the season without a three-game winning streak. Giannis scored 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his first game back at Fiserv since his injury. Bub Carrington and Alex Sarr led the Wizards with 20 points each.
Game Recap
For the first time in 28 days, Giannis graced the court of Fiserv Forum, making his presence felt from the jump. He scored 10 of the Bucks’ first 15 points, as Milwaukee took an eight-point lead in the early going. The Wizards did cut it down to two, but a couple of long-range bombs from Myles Turner got it back to eight points with just over three minutes left in the first. From that point, though, the Wizards took control, doubling the Bucks in scoring 12-6. Milwaukee still held the lead, albeit by just two points, heading into the second quarter, 32-30.
Everyone knows how emotional Bobby Portis is, and sometimes that helps. Other times, like tonight, it did not, as Portis punched the padding on the basket, resulting in a technical foul. The Bucks were up six when that happened, and the Wizards turned it into a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game with 6:44 left in the stanza. The Bucks were able to flip the script, though; in the final 2:12, they battled back from an eight-point deficit, going on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 62-62 in the final minute. Yet it was Washington who got the final bucket of the first half, with CJ McCollum nailing a late three, giving the Wizards a 65-62 lead heading into the locker room. The three-point shot was the big difference, as the Wizards shot 6/6 in the frame, while the Bucks shot 3/8 from distance.
Milwaukee got off to a good start in the third, with Turner hitting his third triple of the night and Giannis getting a layup to go. Washington responded with their hot shooting performance, going on a 10-1 run to take an eight-point lead before Doc Rivers called a timeout. The Bucks responded in kind, tightening their defense on the three-point shot and bringing out their 2-3 zone. Washington missed three straight from distance, and the Bucks took advantage with eight straight points to take a one-point lead, 76-75 at the six-minute mark. Neither team got much separation for the rest of the quarter, trading buckets down the stretch. Kyle Kuzma, on his second basket of the quarter, broke the tie with 26 seconds left, giving the Bucks an 88-86 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Bub Carrington got white hot to start the fourth, dropping three consecutive bombs to give the Wizards a 99-91 lead. The Bucks would stage a comeback, though, as AJ Green’s third three of the night sparked a 7-0 run. Both sides hit a rut offensively, with the Bucks trailing by three, as they went nearly three full minutes without scoring. Luckily, Ryan Rollins hit a clutch triple to tie the game at 110-110, with 2:02 left. The Bucks then took and kept the lead momentarily thanks to a Turner free throw and a monster block on the other end. Giannis extended that lead to three, 113-110, with 33.2 seconds left. But it wasn’t over yet, with the wily McCollum quickly hitting a layup on the ensuing possession. Then, after missed shots from KPJ and Giannis, CJ came the other way in a mad scramble and nailed a mid-range jumper to give Washington the lead with one second left. Out of the timeout, Giannis’ fading mid-range jumper rimmed out, sealing the loss.
Stat That Stood Out
It was a bad night for the Bucks’ bench, while the Wizards’ reserves paid enormous dividends for the visitors. On the night, Milwaukee’s bench was outscored 52-23, with just one Bucks player scoring in double figures (Bobby Portis with 13 points). Meanwhile, Bub Carrington and Julian Champagnie combined for 32 and shot 50% from three-point range.
