The Milwaukee Bucks lost 127-95 to the San Antonio Spurs to drop their ninth of the last 11 games and eliminating them from playoff contention. The Bucks were missing all three Antetokounmbros, Bobby Portis, Kevin Porter, Jr., and Kyle Kuzma. Stephon Castle notched a 22-10-10 triple-double, with Victor Wembanyama not far behind with a near-miss at 23-15-6. Gary Trent, Jr. paced the Bucks with 18 points, two off his season high, and Myles Turner had 15.
Game Recap
The Bucks showed decent fight
from the start, battling to an 11-9 deficit early off balanced scoring from their squad of backups. Things deteriorated gradually: seven-point deficit at five minutes, eight points down at three minutes, 13 behind at the break. MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama did his usual disruptive thing on defense but was quiet offensively, with just a bucket and one highlight behind-the-back feed to a cutting teammate. The Bucks played offense by committee. Nine players saw time, and six scored, with Ryan Rollins leading the charge with six. If we’re looking for fun, meaningless stats you don’t see every game, AJ Green recorded a blocked shot, and Jericho Sims made a non-dunk, non-putback basket with a floater. After one, it was Spurs 37, Bucks 24.
Quarter two started badly and ended worse. The Spurs outscored the Bucks 19-5 out of the gate, shushing an otherwise energetic, almost full crowd at the forum. Wembanyama got cooking a little more, but his teammates did much more damage: Stefon Castle went to the locker room with 15, while Devin Vassell and Derek Harper had 10. Gary Trent Jr. showed significant life, at one point following up a made jumper with a pick-six steal that he converted at the other end. He led the home team with 11 points at the half. Halftime: Spurs 67, Bucks 45.
The Bucks rode their Big Three of Myles Turner, Rollins, and Trent to a better-than-usual opening to the third quarter. Right from the start, Turner hit from deep, then Trent followed with his own splash, then Rollins drove for a bucket off a Wemby goaltend (the call was challenged and overturned). The trio kept pushing, forcing a pair of Spurs’ timeouts to scheme against the three-headed Milwaukee menace. At the halfway mark, the Bucks were down only 15 points, with a pinch of hope. Following that, Vassell hit two straight triples, and Harper leaked out for a transition bucket, unanswered by the Bucks. That sudden dose of hope at the six-minute mark quickly vanished into a 23-point deficit and firm knowledge that it was game over. More meaningless bright spots: Andre Jackson Jr. connected on back-to-back triples late in the frame, but couldn’t finish the turkey, missing a heat check. San Antonio was ahead 102-79 entering the final period.
San Antonio came out feisty to start the fourth, starting with a 9-0 run to push their lead to 32. The rout got rout-ier, and the near-capacity crowd mostly stuck around, for some reason.
Stat That Stood Out
0-7. That’s Ryan Rollins’ line from three-point range. His big nada was part of a woeful overall attack from deep, with the Bucks only hitting 31% to the Spurs’ 42%.
