What does Patrick Beverley bring to the table for the Milwaukee Bucks?
What does new guard Patrick Beverley bring to the table? Bucks reporter Jim Owczarski offers his thoughts on the Point Forward Podcast.
MEMPHIS – Damian Lillard took a deep breath of resignation after yet another layup could not find the bottom of the net with just over seven minutes left.
Brook Lopez pursed his lips together when his layup rattled around and out about a minute later.
Lillard then tossed his hands up after his lob attempt to Giannis Antetokounmpo with 2:52 left wasn’t high enough and was picked off, leading to a go-ahead three-pointer the other way.
It was that kind of night for the Milwaukee Bucks, who lost 113-110 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night at FedExForum. The Bucks had layups and three-pointers not go down while the short-handed Grizzlies had shots beat the shot-clock buzzer and got career nights from GG Jackson II (27 points) and Ziaire Williams (27 points) as they hustled and scrapped their way to an upset victory over the Eastern Conference contenders on national TV.
BOX SCORE: Grizzlies 113, Bucks 110
Seemingly on the verge of putting together a win streak earlier in the week, the Bucks backed into the break with consecutive losses to Miami and Memphis teams bereft of star power but overflowing with want-to. They are now 35-21 and 3-7 under new head coach Doc Rivers. Memphis improved to 20-36.
Milwaukee next plays on Feb. 23 in Minneapolis.
Bucks can’t hold off Grizzlies in fourth quarter
The Bucks came back from a 10-point third quarter deficit on the strength of five early fourth quarter points by Lillard and a pair of Antetokounmpo baskets and an assist to Jae Crowder to go up 102-101 with 3:30 to go in the game, but the Bucks scored just two more points – and didn’t make a field goal – when the game was still in reach as the Grizzlies pushed their advantage to 113-104 with under a minute to go.
Malik Beasley sandwiched two missed Lamar Stevens free throws with three-pointers on consecutive possessions with 45 and 29 seconds left to pull the Bucks to within 113-110. Jae Crowder then drew a charge on Vince Williams Jr. with 11.2 seconds left to set up a potential game-tying possession, but the middle of the court got jammed up as the Grizzlies blitzed Lopez’s screen for Lillard, knocking Lillard to the floor. He recovered the ball, kicked it to Lopez who shot it right back to the guard, but Lillard had to heave a 35-footer that missed the mark.
Lillard scored 24 points on 7 of 21 shooting, including 3-for-13 from behind the three-point line. Beasley was 3-for-10 from behind the three-point line for nine points while Lopez had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bobby Portis added 15 points off the bench for the Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to play through knee tendinitis
Antetokounmpo played in his 15th straight game on Thursday after he was initially downgraded from probable to questionable after the team’s morning shootaround in Memphis with right patellar tendinitis.
The 7-footer looked no worse for wear as he consistently pounded the interior of the smaller Memphis defense for 35 points. His only two missed shots came on midrange jumpers as Antetokounmpo was a perfect 15 of 15 in the restricted area. And when the Grizzlies tried to surround him, Antetokounmpo dished it off for 12 assists.
He first reported the issue on Feb. 4 in Utah, which followed a 48-point, 40-minute night against Dallas on Feb. 3.
Though he had not missed a game since the tendinitis flared up prior to playing the Jazz, Antetokounmpo’s minutes have fallen to 32.2 over his last six games (though a couple of blowouts have helped that cause) and he averaged 26.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game – both below his season averages of 30.7 and 11.4.
His assist total has climbed to 7.0 per game, however, in that span.
Antetokounmpo is expected to play in the NBA all-star game on Sunday.
He was the league’s leading vote-getter and…
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