Rapid Recap: Bucks 112, Mavericks 109

The Milwaukee Bucks narrowly edged out the Dallas Mavericks, 112-109, for their seventh win in eight games.

NBA.com Box Score

Despite coming into the game shorthanded, the Mavericks gave Milwaukee more than enough to handle. The first half saw the Bucks only leading by eight, 55-47, partially due to a particularly poor half at the free throw line for Giannis Antetokounmpo along with nine team turnovers.

Once again, the Mavericks weaseled their way back into the game as the Bucks went cold in the third while Giannis rode the pine with a silly fourth foul early in the period. While Dallas hung with it, Khris Middleton splashed home several clutch threes in the waning minutes to secure a closer-than-it-should’ve-been victory for Milwaukee. They will go into Brooklyn for a likely matchup with their new big three on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Stat That Stood Out

1-10 FT shooting for Giannis. I hate to harp on this, given we all lived through plenty of tweets about it, but it’s impossible to avoid a glaringly putrid performance from the line. Giannis’s long and winding free throw journey just never seems to find stable ground. Hopefully, this is the nadir. It can’t get much uglier than this; thankfully he made up for it with a 14-21 shooting night from the floor. At least the Bucks got the win.

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