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Following their ugly showing against the Nuggets on Sunday, the Bucks were able to get back on track tonight with a 112-98 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Bobby Portis helped the Bucks catch an early lead in the first quarter, and they wouldn’t relinquish it going into the second. After one period of play, Milwaukee led Washington, 24-20.
Despite neither team getting in a consistent groove of shooting the basketball, a balanced scoring output separated the Bucks from the Wizards. Going into halftime, Milwaukee led by double digits, 53-40.
Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one before — the Bucks struggled in the third quarter. As Kyle Kuzma started to get going, so did the Wizards. Going into the fourth quarter, Milwaukee’s lead stood at just 78-73.
Despite this game getting closer than the Bucks would’ve liked, they were able to close things out down the stretch. Giannis secured yet another triple-double in the process, and Milwaukee extinguished the Wizards by a final score of 112-98.
Stat That Stood Out
I’m going to go with the third quarter. So many times this year, Milwaukee has come out of the halftime break in a sluggish manner. Tonight was no different. The Wizards outscored the Bucks 33-25 in the period, which got them right back in the thick of things. The Bucks would ultimately be able to right the ship, but the pattern of slow third quarters continues to be concerning.