Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 94-87 win over San Antonio Spurs
The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t spoil Eric Bledsoe‘s team debut as they fended off and defeated the San Antonio Spurs to break their four-game losing streak.
The Eric Bledsoe era for the Milwaukee Bucks got off to a good start on Friday night as they battled and prevailed over the San Antonio Spurs, winning 94-87.
Sporting a new-look starting lineup with Bledsoe, the game got off to a pretty furious start as both teams traded buckets after buckets following the opening tip. Before long, things started to settle down with the Spurs just barely holding the upper hand at the end of the first period.
The start of the second quarter got off to a rocky start for the Bucks, especially as both of the Spurs’ bigs (LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol) wreaked havoc on Thon Maker inside and in the post.
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But shots eventually started to fall for the Bucks and we started to see our first glimpses of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bledsoe connecting on instant highlights before we headed into halftime.
The fireworks were out in full force in the third quarter as we got a look at the potential Bledsoe’s presence will bring to the Bucks, especially defensively.
Having struggled mightily on the defensive end to start the season, the Bucks’ length, athleticism and quickness overpowered the Spurs as the Bucks started to break out in transition and capitalize off of turnovers.
With that kind of engaged play on that end, the Bucks built their biggest lead of the night (14) near the latter stages of the third quarter. But what shouldn’t come as much of a surprise is that the Spurs stormed back as they peeled off a mini run to end the period 76-70 in the Bucks’ favor.
A back and forth affair broke back out in the fourth quarter with the Bucks doing just enough to keep the lead in their possession. With the Spurs breathing down their neck, clutch mid-range buckets from Khris Middleton and Bledsoe put the Bucks over the edge and ensured the win.
So without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at what made the night so successful, starting with the man who made his debut in green.