The junior Bucks get their clock cleaned
Down Giannis, Dame, Khris, Brook, and Bobby, the Milwaukee Bucks got demolished by the Oklahoma City Thunder, 96-125. Ryan Rollins led the Bucks with 16 points, while rookies AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith showed some promising signs, combining for 25. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carved up the Bucks defence for 34 points in 22 minutes.
Game Recap
The Bucks actually kept pace with the Thunder over the first lot of possessions, but the score quickly ballooned to 13-4 soon thereafter. AJax had a few buckets early, but live-ball turnovers really hurt the Bucks; they had five in the quarter. Meanwhile, SGA sliced up the Bucks with 21 points in the period! On the plus side, Tyler Smith scored late with a smooth three. Thunder led 39-22 after one.
AJ Johson got on the board early in the second, while Pat Connaughton and Gary Trent Jr. played a steadying role with the young fellas. Unfortunately, a few more transition buckets forced the Bucks into another early timeout, down 31-54 with six minutes remaining. Prince kept the lead from blowing out too badly with a few triples. Then Jackson got out in transition for an explosive jam, likely the highlight of the night for the junior Bucks. Thunder led 78-44 at half.
The third quarter did not get off to a good start with another set of transition threes from the Thunder to push the lead out to 39. AJ Johnson was oh-so-close to an awesome poster dunk but was just blocked by Hartenstein. Johnson redeemed himself with a nice catch-and-shoot three later, though. Thunder up 116-75 after three.
Milwaukee got off to a relatively nice start to the fourth behind a Smith pick-and-pop three and a Johnson acrobatic finish at the rim. AJ continued to produce, hitting another three, this time off the dribble. The contest then turned into a glorified pickup game, and it was eventually over, thankfully.
Stat That Stood Out
Although the Bucks got rinsed in this one, they got 50 points from their bench (only losing that stat to OKC by six). Gary Trent Jr. was able to use this one to find a bit of a rhythm after some rough games, while the young fellas also got some valuable run in an NBA environment.
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