The Milwaukee Bucks surprisingly dropped this game to the Sacramento Kings—who were 1-4 coming in—in a controversial fashion by a final score of 135-133. Giannis finished with just 26 points, the first
time this season he’s been held under 30, while Kuzma added 22. Zach LaVine led all scorers with 31 points, while DeMar DeRozan had 29 in the winning effort for Sacramento.
Game Recap
The Bucks got out of the gates quickly against the Kings, making their first five buckets to grab a 15-2 lead before Kings head coach Doug Christie called a timeout. It wasn’t just the offense that got the ball rolling; the Bucks’ defense was tenacious, causing Sacramento to go 1/6 from the field in that span. Milwaukee continued to roll, pushing their lead to as many as 15 points, going up 21-6 with 7:36 to go in the quarter. Sacramento didn’t even hit double figures until a minute later, after Russell Westbrook hit the first of his two free throws. Things got a bit heated between Bobby Portis and Domantas Sabonis after it appeared the pair got tied up. Portis was assessed a taunting technical foul for pointing in the face of Sabonis. That didn’t slow down Milwaukee at all, though, keeping their lead above double figures, thanks to the duo of Giannis and Ryan Rollins, who each got dunks in the lane. Towards the end of the quarter, the Kings did find their footing, getting back within single digits thanks to their bench and the iso heroics of DeMar DeRozan. By the time the first 12 minutes of action had come and gone, the Bucks went 17/24 from the field, 8/13 from three, and scored a first-quarter season high of 47 points, heading into the second up, 47-36.
Familiar Bucks villain Dennis Schroder was causing problems for Milwaukee to begin the second quarter. He scored the first five points for the visitors, cutting the Bucks’ lead to six in short order. While the Kings were running with four guards, the Bucks opted to go bigger, and it worked out somewhat in their favor. The bench was able to build the lead back up to 14 before a Drew Eubanks lob dunk forced head coach Doc Rivers to call a timeout with the Kings down just 10. Then the Bucks went through a 3:33 scoring drought. The lull allowed the Kings to completely erase the lead, down to just three points, with 4:34 to go in the half. The Bucks also ended a 4:46 field goal drought, thanks to a Rollins layup. That bucket helped get the Bucks back in gear, going back up by eight points with a tad over three minutes to go. That advantage didn’t last long, though, as the Kings outscored the Bucks 8-1 over the final 1:28 of game time, leaving the Bucks a minuscule one-point lead heading into the locker room. After scoring 47 in the first, the Bucks were limited to 24 and went 1/7 from the three-point line. The Kings shot 59.1% from the floor (13/22) in the quarter and 5/6 from the charity stripe.
The heat between these two teams got turned up once again. On a drive to the lane from Giannis on a fast break, Westbrook practically bear hugged the big fella, and both sides had words for each other. As for the actual basketball on the floor, the Kings came all the way back, trailing by as many as 15 points, to take the lead. After a couple of Trent free throws gave the Bucks a two-point lead, the Kings came back with seven straight points to take their largest lead of the game to that point at five. Things went from bad to worse for the Bucks, as the three-point shooting for the Kings finally started to get going. LaVine and Schroder made back-to-back bombs to give Sacramento their first double-digit lead of the night at 11. After giving the starters a breather, the Bucks’ bench gave them a boost and helped stop the bleeding. Portis hit a couple of threes, and Kyle Kuzma hit a spinning layup off the baseline to get the Bucks back within six, 102-108, heading into the fourth quarter.
Things started in a rather interesting way. Cole Anthony got tossed just 1:20 in after receiving his second technical of the game for arguing with the officials on foul calls. Out of everyone on the Bucks roster, it was Kuzma who helped keep the Bucks within striking distance. Kuzma scored the first 14 points for Milwaukee in the fourth quarter to make it a six-point game with 5:23 to go. It took until the 3:54 mark of the fourth for a player not named Kuzma to score, as Giannis hit two free throws, to get the Bucks back within six again. The momentum finally seemed to swing back the Bucks’ way after Giannis hit a three-pointer and then threw down a one-handed jam to get the Bucks back within three with 2:35 left in the game. It turned into a nail-biter from there, with neither side gaining much of an edge. After two DeRozan free throws made it a four-point game, Turner hit a clutch corner three to bring it back within one with 51 seconds left. The defense then forced a miss by DeRozan, and they had a chance to take the lead, but Giannis threw the ball off the underneath part of the basket and turned it over. Schroder made two free throws to make it a three-point game, as the Bucks came the other way after a timeout. After two missed shots from AJ Green to tie the game, he was fouled on the floor by LaVine to force two free throws. Green made the first and missed the second intentionally. Giannis grabbed the rebound and appeared to be fouled by Drew Eubanks, but there was no call on the floor, and there was no shot at the rim, sealing the Bucks’ fate.
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks struggled to hit their free throws, and it wasn’t just a Giannis problem this go around. While he did miss five of his 14 attempts, Turner missed both of his, Trent missed two, and even Cole Anthony went 1/2 from the line. The total ended up being 20/31 for the Bucks (64.5%), while the Kings were incredibly efficient from the free throw line, going 35/40 (87.5%).
