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New York Knicks fans must get regularly depressed at the prospect of having to watch their team play each night, but it must be some special kind of awfulness to know you’re going to get beat down so handily when you see the Milwaukee Bucks on the schedule. Tonight was no exception with a 123-102 victory for the Bucks. At the end of one, Milwaukee races out to a rapid 37-23 advantage. By halftime, a buzzer-beating triple from George Hill put the Bucks up 68-54. When the third period ended, this game had the look of a laugher, but Bud couldn’t quite run the rest of the way with his scrubs. Milwaukee’s starters had to re-enter around the six-minute mark in the midst of a comeback and close them out.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was listed as probable with some back soreness coming into tonight, but he didn’t have to heft the team upon his back in this one. He played just 26 minutes, and had 22 points to go along with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He should be well-rested for the back-to-back against Indiana tomorrow.
The rest of Milwaukee’s roster was slow and steady, with lots of scorers across the board. Khris Middleton had 23, and an irksome five turnovers, Brook had 14 and Ersan added 10 starting in place of Wesley Matthews. Donte rounded it out with 13 points and seven boards.
For New York, they really didn’t have anyone going in this one. Julius Randle was the closest they came to competency, with 20 points on 9-17 shooting, but he also was playing in garbage time against Milwaukee’s scrubs. R.J. Barrett was 6-16 with 17 points points, Bobby Portis was 2-9, Marcus Morris had just 11 and ended -29. This is sad beyond words for them.
Stat that Stood Out
The Bucks were somehow outscored in the paint in this one 42-32, likely owing to Giannis’ limited point total, but that rarely happens and portends success for Milwaukee. Thankfully, they didn’t need to punish the Knicks inside given their piping hot stroke from outside where they canned 41.9% of their triples (18-43) while New York hit only 27.6% of theirs.