Discussing Damian Lillard and the Bucks in the second half
How much does Milwaukee’s title hopes hinge on Damian Lillard? Jim Owczarski, Lori Nickel and JR Radcliffe discuss on the Point Forward podcast.
MINNEAPOLIS – The Milwaukee Bucks turned in perhaps their best win of the season late Friday night, toppling the Western Conference’s best team with a 112-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.
The Bucks (36-21) withstood a furious Timberwolves (39-18) rally in the fourth quarter that saw Minnesota whittle a 17-point deficit down to four with 1 minute, 58 seconds to go but Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard closed it out for the Bucks.
First, Antetokounmpo pulled down a pair of tough offensive rebounds and made 3 of 4 free throws to give the Bucks some breathing room at 108-101. Then after Anthony Edwards hit clutch three-pointers with 47 and 31 seconds remaining to pull the Timberwolves within four and three-points, respectively, Antetokounmpo beat a Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony double-team by feeding Jae Crowder for a bucket and then Lillard provided the dagger with a 21-foot step-back jumper to make it 112-107 with 9.2 seconds left.
BOX SCORE; Bucks 112, Timberwolves 107
Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points, 13 rebounds and five assists while Lillard has 21 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Brook Lopez scored 16 points and Malik Beasley and Bobby Portis had 14 each.
Edwards led Minnesota with 28 while Towns had 22 and 14 rebounds. Rudy Gobert had 19 rebounds and 12 points in the loss.
Malik Beasley leads key third quarter for Bucks
It wasn’t a surprise that Doc Rivers drew up a play to get Beasley the first shot of the second half – a clean looking three-pointer – after the shooting guard played the first half without a shot. He was working on defense, picking up two steals and three fouls while defending Timberwolves all-star Edwards for most of the half, but the Bucks also made just 5 three-pointers in the opening 24 minutes.
So even though Beasley’s first attempt missed, it was clear the team wanted – and needed – to get some additional offense.
It worked, as Beasley went 5 for 11 in the third quarter, including four made three-pointers, to score 14 points. He also had another steal as the Bucks outscored the Timberwolves 36-13 to flip a six-point halftime deficit to an 87-70 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bucks needed every bit of that advantage, too, as the Timberwolves made it close in the fourth quarter.
Did you notice?
The Bucks opened the game and the third quarter on 7-0 runs, anchored in large part by stifling and connected team defense. Brook Lopez redirected a lob dunk attempt from Gobert and blocked a shot in the sequences, while the team created good looks from behind the three-point line to accentuate baskets from Antetokounmpo. They were short periods of time, but clearly the team wanted to set a tone coming out of the blocks against the West’s best team.
Five numbers
2 Antetokounmpo’s rank in franchise history for offensive rebounds, as he passed Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief with his second offensive board of the night in Memphis. Antetokounmpo (1,397) now trails only Marques Johnson (1,468) for the top spot in the franchise record book.
5 Missed shots and assists for Lillard in the first quarter. He went 0 for 5 from the field but his five assists led to 13 points for the Bucks. It helped Milwaukee take a 31-27 lead after the first quarter.Unfortunately for the Bucks, they also went 0 for 5 from behind the three-point line in the second quarter, which helped the Timberwolves flip the scoreboard to take a 57-51 lead into the break.
6 Technical fouls this season on Lopez, who picked up his second in as many games at the 2:01 mark of the first quarter. It immediately followed his second personal foul. Lopez, who started the game 4 for 4 from behind the three-point line, then had to sit with the early foul trouble. Bucks players have been called…
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