The Milwaukee Bucks have finally won consecutive games on the back of big performances from their bigs. Portis led the way with 25 points off the bench, but it was Myles Turner who was the steady force throughout (23 points on the night) and Giannis finishing things off late that enabled the Bucks to overcome Charlotte’s backcourt of Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball who combined for 57 points.
Game Recap
The game began with a Brandon Miller airball and the teams combined for another four consecutive
misses, but a LaMelo Ball playground three from the left corner broke the cylinder and then threes to Kevin Porter Jr. and Myles Turner got the scoreboard ticking over. Coming off his dunk-fest against the Bulls, Giannis was in attack mode early in this one and was irate when Miller stuffed him at the rim trying to get his third of the quarter, leading to the game’s first timeout. An AJ Green drive-by layup gave the Bucks an 8-0 run and 16-9 lead halfway through the quarter, but when Colin Sexton hit a floater to cap a 9-2 Hornets run the scores were tied at 21. The final two minutes of the quarter mirrored the game’s opening moments—mainly misses—though Bobby Portis made up for an earlier three-point shooting foul on Brandon Miller with a buzzer-beating bank shot and the Hornets’ lead was one, 26-25.
Porter opened the second with a mid-range jumper, rebound, and assist sequence, giving the Bucks a three-point lead, though Miller erased that with an and-one in the paint and, after three early turnovers—the last leading to a Moussa Diabaté transition dunk that gave the Hornets the lead—Doc Rivers was forced into a timeout. It worked too—Bobby Portis hit consecutive threes and Giannis converted an and-one to give the Bucks a 38-33 lead with 8:48 on the clock. Three minutes later, though, the Hornets had their largest lead of the night on the back of a 15-3 run bookended by Sexton triples. Timeout, Bucks. The Hornets’ lead built to as much as 11 on the back of their hot shooting from distance (12/23 3PT for the half), but Ryan Rollins found his rhythm to end the quarter, scoring nine points in the final 3:31, and the Bucks kept the scores close—the half ending with the Hornets up 66-63.
Following a mid-range basket by Porter and rolling dunk by Turner to open the second half, the Bucks had their first lead since the 7:20 minute mark of the second quarter. The scores would go back and forth for the first half of the third quarter, highlighted by a Ball to Miller alley-oop and blocks at the rim by Turner, Porter, and Diabaté. Turner continued his strong play with a right corner three and pair of free throws and, despite the Hornets cleaning up the offensive glass—including three on one possession—the Bucks found themselves up 87-82 with 3:48 to go and they would have ended the quarter up by six if not for an ill-advised Gary Harris foul on a heavily trapped Sexton on the baseline with just one second remaining. Sexton split the free throws and the Bucks went into the fourth up 95-89.
Ball made it a one possession game with a three to begin the fourth and then backed it up with another from Chino Hills—the Hornets’ 16th of the game—to tie it, but Portis felt the buzz and showed his own, hitting not one, not two, but three in a row. And when Giannis spun baseline into a reverse layup that forced the Hornets into a timeout, the Bucks held their biggest lead of the night, 106-97. Point-blank misses at the rim by Josh Green and Diabaté led to a BP bucket—his 11th point of the quarter and 25th of the night—and the crowd fell silent, but a Miller and-one poster dunk on Kyle Kuzma brought the arena back to life and soon enough chants of “Defence” helped the Hornets to cut it to five, 114-109, with just 3:12 left. Out of their timeout, a Rollins and Turner pick and roll basket gave the Bucks some breathing room and another Giannis baseline spin—this time from the left block—forced their Hornets into a timeout of their own. A Giannis and-one dunk out of the timeout gave the Bucks a 12-point lead and effectively ended things for the Hornets—time of death 1:21 in the fourth.
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks have struggled with rebounding and turnovers all season. Tonight, the former of these continued as they finished with just 31 rebounds (5 offensive, 25 defensive) compared to the Hornets’ 47 (17 offensive, 30 defensive). However, they only turned the ball over eight times, compared to the Hornets’ 13 (including six from Ball). That’s progress.
