Without Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks posted a lowly performance against the Charlotte Hornets, losing 111-100. Ryan Rollins was the lone bright spot for the visitors, with 25 points, six assists, and five
rebounds. The Hornets were led by Miles Bridges, who dropped 20 points, six assists, and six rebounds.
Game Recap
With Giannis out, Myles Turner got hot early, going 2/2 from three in the opening two possessions. Gary Trent Jr. and Ryan Rollins also got to the cup for buckets, but Milwaukee couldn’t contain the Hornets’ second-round pick Ryan Kalkbrenner as he got two early O-boards and putbacks, Bucks down 12-17 at the first timeout. Speaking of offensive rebounds, Moussa Diabaté, who majorly hurt the Bucks last season in that department, came in and grabbed two almost immediately. However, Ryan Rollins poised the Bucks with consecutive perimeter jumpers to equal the tally at 23 with 4:32 left in the first. Unfortunately, the visitors cooled off for the rest of the quarter as the Hornets continued their hot shooting at 58.3% for the period. Charlotte up 27-35 after one.
Bucks fan favourite Pat Connaughton entered the game to start the second and, of course, nailed two threes and a transition layup in short order. Diabaté grabbed his fourth offensive rebound early in the second, as the Bucks’ struggles boxing him out continued and the Hornets’ lead expanded to double digits. Buckets from Turner and Rollins gave the Bucks some much-needed offence, but they still couldn’t knuckle down on defence; Charlotte up 49-40 with under five minutes remaining in the half. From there, both teams went bucket for bucket, for the most part, with Turner getting going again. Hornets still up, 59-50, at half.
Things were ugly for the Bucks to open the third, as they gave up a 13-6 run to start. Kuz missing multiple layups in half-court and transition certainly didn’t help. From there, the Hornets continued to feast on Milwaukee’s lacklustre defence, expanding their edge to 19 about halfway through the third. The Bucks tried to stem the Hornets’ scoring run by going to the zone, and, well, I guess it worked? They missed some wide-open shots, but it allowed the visitors to get out and run, reducing the deficit to 10 behind a 9-0 run. Milwaukee had a bunch of chances to reduce Charlotte’s lead further, but faltered on both ends, as the Hornets led 83-72 after three.
Charlotte wasn’t having any of Milwaukee’s comeback to open the fourth, going on a 7-2 run out of the gate as Doc called a TO. Connaughton continued to punish the Bucks with his heady play. From there, the Bucks couldn’t get going on offence, making it just a matter of time before Doc waved the white flag. That flag was waved with just under six minutes remaining, as the third team came in for a run. There was some good stuff from Mark Sears and Pete Nance in garbage time, though. Hornets win.
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks just couldn’t keep the Hornets off the free throw line, as they shot 27 times at the charity stripe compared to the Bucks’ 13—a season-long trend.
