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News – US – Bucks 128, Kings 115: Milwaukee’s offense puts it back into gear

22 February 2021

Milwaukee turned to its defense to end the five-game loss on Friday and two nights later helped Sacramento’s worst defense in the league with a 128-115 win on Sunday night at the Fiserv Forum is the offensive got out of hand by Bucks

The Kings (12-18) came out losers from six straight, allowing 1,237 points per game over that stretch, four points more than the season average. Conversely, the Bucks (18-13) averaged over their last six games 109 problems to find constancy on the offensive2 points

Sacramento’s drained defense provided Milwaukee with much-needed respite, scoring the most points since February 3 against Indiana (130)

Khris Middleton shook himself on the offensive, hitting a season high of 32 points (13:22 shooting, of which 3-5 from the three-point line) to get eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. It was the third Time this season that he hit the 30-point plateau and his highest score since Jan. February scored 8 He also hit a season high on shot attempts

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 38 points and pulled 18 rebounds down. He also went 19 for 24 off the free-throw line and continued a season high in marks and tries

Donte DiVincenzo drove 16 points at Milwaukee’s shortened four-man bench for 32 points, led by Pat Connaughton’s 12 points and six rebounds. Bryn Forbes added 10

Oshkosh’s Tyrese Haliburton scored 23 points on 10-of-16 off the bench and led the Kings He also had five assists Sacramento had double digits all five starters but the Kings shot 44% off the ground and 37% 5% from the three-point line

The game was never in doubt from the Bucks perspective in the second half, although the Sacramento combo of Kyle Guy and Haliburton helped the Kings get within calling range 10 minutes and 13 seconds before the start of the game at 101-89 for three free throws from Middleton and a quick hang-up from DiVincenzo thereafter, however, halted that momentum to bring Milwaukee to 106-89

The Kings never came back to a dozen and the Antetokounmpo scored 11 points in the quarter and stayed in the game until the end

Middleton dumped an 8-0 to open the second half and increased Bucks’ lead to 78-56, and they played around 20 points ahead of the majority of the quarter Middleton scored 11 in the frame and spread out three assists, hitting a 22-foot-foot three-tenths of a second ahead in the quarter to give the Bucks a 99-82 lead in the fourth quarter

Milwaukee took a 70-56 lead in the half behind 17 bank points and 35 combined from Antetokounmpo and Middleton The top duo of the Bucks did everything in the first half as Middleton had four steals and five assists while Antetokounmpo had 11 rebounds and added four assists

The game started a little slow as the Bucks had a 25-23 lead after the first quarter The Bucks made it difficult for the Kings on the edge of defense but only shot 391% off the ground alone to keep the game tight The pace accelerated in the second quarter as the teams essentially swapped baskets for about five minutes, with the bucks slowly expanding their lead to 47:39

Momentum, Milwaukee swung the way when Mike Budenholzer successfully challenged an offensive foul against Antetokounmpo at 6:42 in lieu of turnover, Antetokounmpo converted a three-point game to trigger an 11-2 run that put the Bucks at one The lead of 58:41 brought

A pair of deep threesomes from Buddy Hield put the Kings just under two minutes ahead of 64-56, but the Bucks ended the quarter with a 6-0 run

Before the game, the bucks received good news that security guard Jrue Holiday was able to join the team on the bench for the first time since joining the league’s health and safety protocol in February 8 Holiday couldn’t play but when he was during a break in the first quarter was shown on the scoreboard, he received applause800 fans (10% capacity), a number that will be valid for four weeks

Follow beatwriter Jim Owczarski’s live blog as he posts updates on the Bucks game against the Sacramento Kings on the Fiserv Forum

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