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Antetokounmpo, Middleton lead Bucks past Kings

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The Milwaukee Bucks extended their win streak to two games, knocking off the Sacramento Kings 128-115 on Sunday night at Fiserv Forum.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 38 points and Khris Middleton added 32.

“I thought individually they were good, and they had good moments together,” said Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer.  “I thought our defense set the table and we were able to get out and both of them were able to be in attack mode.”

Antetokounmpo made 19 of 24 free throws and added 18 rebounds to lead the Bucks to their ninth straight win against the Kings.

The Bucks scored the first eight points of the third quarter to go up by 22 and led 99-82 heading into the fourth.

Sacramento pulled within 12 points early in the fourth before the Bucks pulled away.  Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton, who played his high school basketball at Oshkosh [Read more…]

Bucks pull out win over Toronto in Tampa

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The Milwaukee Bucks grabbed the first meeting of the season against rival Toronto, 115-108 on Wednesday night.  The game was played in Tampa, Florida because Toronto has been locked out of their home country due to strict coronavirus travel restrictions between Canada and the United States.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists and Khris Middleton added 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bucks (11-6).  Brook Lopez added a season-high 20 points for the Bucks.

Norman Powell had 26 points and Kyle Lowry added 21 to lead six Raptors (7-11) in double figures.

The Bucks defensively held Toronto to 21 points in the second quarter.  Coach Mike Budenholzer said it was probably the difference in the game.

Milwaukee stays on the road and will face the Pelicans in New Orleans on Friday night.

 

Bucks Drop Second Straight Exhibition To Mavericks

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The Milwaukee Bucks dropped to 0-2 in exhibition play, falling for the second straight game to the Dallas Mavericks, 128-112 at Fiserv Forum on Monday night.

The Bucks have struggled to defend the three previously and it continued Monday night.  The Mavericks hit 22 of 46 from distance (47.8%).

The Bucks trailed  32-28 after the first quarter, then got hot, outscoring the Mavericks 41-27 in the second quarter to lead 69-59 at the break.  But Mike Budenholzer’s squad couldn’t follow through in the second half.  They were outscored 36-24 in the third quarter and 33-19 in the fourth. [Read more…]

Bucks were busy overnight!

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Bucks GM Jon Horst

Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst held a pre-draft Zoom call with reporters on Monday to discuss the latest on the team as the NBA Draft approaches Wednesday night, the ability to make trades starting yester (Monday) and free agency opening Friday.  By the time the day finished, most of what Horst said became irrelevent.

Monday night, the Bucks pulled off a pair of big deals with New Orleans and Sacramento, hoping their all-in approach will convince star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign a Supermax deal with the team as early as Sunday.

The Bucks and Pelicans came up with a trade agreement with the Bucks getting all-star guard Jrue Holiday for Eric Bledsoe and George Hill as well as three first-round draft picks.  The deal also allows the Bucks to swap picks with the Bucks in two other drafts.  The deal is expected to leave the Bucks without their first round pick (24th overall) in Wednesday nights draft.

Following that deal, the Bucks sent Donte DiVincenzo, D.J. Wilson and Ersan Ilyasova to the Kings for Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin James.  DiVincenzo was the Bucks first round pick in 2018 while Wilson was taken in the first round in 2017.

The deals still leave the Bucks well over the salary cap with just seven players on their roster and little depth to speak of at the moment.  It’ll leave Horst trying to build the rest of his roster with minimum contracts. [Read more…]

Money won’t be an object for the Bucks moving forward

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Giannis Antetokounmpo – File Photo / Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Milwaukee Bucks co-owner and governor Marc Lasry, meeting with Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo last Friday, told the reigning NBA MVP that the franchise is willing to spend into the luxury tax to deliver him a championship supporting cast.

According to ESPN, the Bucks’ payroll will be close to the proposed $132.7 million luxury-tax threshold for 2020-21.

Lasry assured Antetokounmpo and his agent, Alex Saratsis, that they would make some personnel upgrades that could be available to the franchise in the offseason.  Antetokounmpo left for vacation but is expected to meet with Lasry upon his return.

Antetokounmpo will have to decide whether he will sign an extension with the Bucks or enter the 2020-21 season in the final year of his contract and eligible for free agency in 2021.

The Bucks will offer Antetokounmpo a supermax deal that will pay him somewhere just short of $250 million over five [Read more…]

Bucks season comes to an end in Orlando (AUDIO)

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Mike Budenholzer File Photo – Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

With all-star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo watching from the bench, the Milwaukee Bucks season came to an end, falling to the Miami Heat 103-94 inside the bubble in Orlando.

The Bucks played some of their best defense of the season, forcing the Heat into 22 turnovers.  But they didn’t have enough offensively to win their second straight and force Miami into a game 6.  Instead, the Heat won the series four games to one and advance to the Eastern Conference finals against either Boston or Toronto.

The Bucks started strong, leading by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and led by nine at the break.  But the Heat outscored Milwaukee 33-18 in the second quarter.

The Bucks fought their way back once again in the third quarter, crawling to within one-point at 57-56 with 9 1/2 minutes left.  Then went 6 1/2 minutes without a field goal.

Khris Middleton, who led the Bucks with 23 points, hit just 3 of his 15 field goal attempts in the second half.  Donte DiVincenzo got the start for the Bucks with Antetokounmpo out of the lineup.  He scored 17 points and came through with another strong defensive showing. [Read more…]

Heat grab 2-0 series lead over Bucks

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A late rally by the Milwaukee Bucks made things interesting, but in the end, the Miami Heat prevailed 116-114 to take a 2-0 lead in their second round best-of-7 series inside the bubble in Orlando.

Khris Middleton drew a questionable foul call while shooting a three pointer with 4.3 seconds left and drained all three free throws to tie the game at 114.

After a timeout, the Heat advanced the ball to the front court and Jimmy Butler’s attempt at a game winning jumper was off the mark.  But instead of seeing the game head to overtime, the official called a foul on Giannis Antetokounmpo as he put his left hand on Butler after the ball was already in the air.  Butler went to the line and sank both free throws with no time left on the clock and the Heat pulled out the 2-point win. [Read more…]

Quick turn-around for the Bucks, who face Miami Monday night

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Just two days after knocking the Orlando Magic out of the playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks turn right around to open the second round of the playoffs against the Miami Heat on Monday night (5:30 p.m.) inside the NBA’s Orlando bubble.

The Heat swept the Indiana Pacers in the opening round of the playoffs and have had a week of rest since then.  The Bucks will have to overcome Miami’s advantage in prep time for the series opener.

The Bucks needed five games to dispatch the Magic after Orlando won the series opener.

“It is a very quick turn, but if you’ve been in the league a long time it’s probably happened to a team you’ve been a part of,” said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer.  “I think one of our hopes is just to keep them as clean and free as they can be and go out and play and not over-complicate it, which coaches tend to do.”

No team defends the paint better than the Bucks do, but the test for Milwaukee will be to continue to defend the lane and get out to contest the three-point line.  Miami ranked second in the NBA in three-point percentage (37.9%) this season and hit just over 39% from distance in their four-game sweep of the Pacers.

Miami’s top shooter from the perimeter is second-year guard Duncan Robinson, who hit 44.6% from distance this season.

The Bucks could be without their starting point guard, Eric Bledsoe as well.  Bledsoe is listed as questionable with a right hamstring strain.

 

Bucks stumble out of the gates, drop playoff opener (AUDIO)

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After finishing the NBA’s seeding games with a 3-5 record, the Milwaukee Bucks picked up where they left off, dropping their playoff opener to the shorthanded Orlando Magic 122-110 inside the Orlando bubble.

Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 31 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists and George Hill added 16 points off the bench, but the Magic turned 16 Bucks turnovers into 25 points.

Orlando’s Nikola Vocevic dominated with 35 points and 14 rebounds, hitting 15 of 24 from the field.  Terrance Ross added 18 points for the Magic.

Orlando packed the paint and invited the Bucks to beat them from distance.  Khris Middleton had just 14 points on 4 of 12 [Read more…]

Budenholzer named NBCA Co-Coach of the Year

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Mike Budenholzer – Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer joins Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan as the 2020 recipients of the Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year Award.

The award recognizes the dedication, commitment and hard work of NBA Head Coaches and is presented annually to a Head Coach who helps guide his players to a higher level of performance on the court and shows outstanding service and dedication to the community off the court.  It is the only award voted upon by the winners’ peers, the Head Coaches of all 30 NBA teams.  This year’s voting was based on games played from the start of the 2019-20 regular season through games played on March 11.

Budenholzer guided the Bucks to the best record in the NBA (53-12) for the second year in a row.  He becomes the first two-time winner of the Award.  The Bucks were the NBA’s highest scoring team, averaging 118.6 points a game, and outscored opponents by a league-high average of 11.2 ppg.  The 11.2 ppg differential is tied for the fifth largest margin in NBA history.

Defensively, Coach Budenholzer’s Bucks  held opponents to 107.4 ppg, fifth best in the league.  He won Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December (13-2 record) and February (10-1 record).

Donovan led the Thunder to a 40-24 season, tied for fifth in the Western Conference.  From Thanksgiving through March 11, the Thunder went 34-13.  Donovan joins Rick Carlisle, Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr as the only active head coaches to guide their teams to the playoffs in each of their first five seasons.