Womp.
The Milwaukee Bucks kept it competitive for a quarter before dropping dead against the New York Knicks, 140-106. Jalen Brunson torched the Bucks to the tune of 44 points and Karl-Anthony Towns mixed in 30. Giannis and Dame combined for a mere 46 points.
Game Recap
The Bucks had some pretty combos early: a classic Dame and Giannis and a not-quite-classic Prince and AJax. But the Knicks buried a couple threes and Jalen Brunson went to town on AJax, who picked up three fouls early. A 7-0 Dame run brought the Bucks back in front, though, before both teams stayed neck and neck while piling on the offense (despite decent enough defending), with Giannis wreaking havoc around the rim. Brunson grifted AJG to the bench as well, treating us to Pat minutes in 2025, but the refs swallowed their whistles the rest of the frame (mostly to the Bucks’ detriment, though). JB ended with 23 (!) in the quarter and 12 of the Knicks points in a row as they closed up 36-33.
Without Giannis and Brunson to start the second, the Knicks had a slight advantage due to a locked-in KAT (Bobby was NOT the answer) and lackluster defense from the Bucks (especially on corner close-outs). Plus, MarJon rotation minutes! Bobby made up for it in part on the other end, but a Cam Payne revenge game from deep coupled with cold three-point shooting for Milwaukee let New York grow their lead. The Bucks didn’t let the Knicks get further away than the low teens, but they didn’t reel them back to single-digits either, with the half closing 75-62 in favor of the home team.
Two sleepy defensive albeit foul-free possessions from AJax led Doc to call a timeout 52 seconds into the second half. Then it was déjà vu all over again: two possessions, two threes this time, and another timeout with the Knicks up 23 at the 10:18 mark. Woof. Weirdly they kept playing though, and in fact muddled their way to a “respectable” within 20 after some challenge chicanery. But they must have need their muddler to prep Old-Fashioneds for the flight home, because the muddling stopped there. (Coincidentally, that’s when Brunson returned after spending some time in the locker room.) 108-89 New York after three.
The fourth quarter featured 12 minutes of basketball played by the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks.
Stat That Stood Out
A 147.6 defensive rating per Cleaning the Glass isn’t the best day at the office.
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