Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 113-112 win over Charlotte Hornets
The Milwaukee Bucks escaped the wrath of the Charlotte Hornets as they survived a nail-biter to earn a 113-112 win in their regular season opener Wednesday night.
It wouldn’t be a Milwaukee Bucks regular season opener against the Charlotte Hornets in the Queen City without a little late game drama and that’s exactly what we saw Wednesday night as the Bucks came home with gutsy 113-112 win.
That would have been hard to forecast once play tipped off, as the combination of the Bucks’ scorching three-point shooting and the Hornets’ slow start paved the way for the Bucks to take a 36-23 lead after the first quarter.
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The Bucks built on their cushion to start the second quarter and led by as much as 20 at the 10:21 mark of the second quarter.
From there, the Hornets started to show signs of life and did their best to cut down their sizeable deficit to no avail as the Bucks held a 67-54 lead heading into halftime.
Following the halftime break, the Bucks continued to reinforce their command over the game throughout most of the third period and led 93-83 after three.
It was in the fourth quarter when the game started to shift towards the Hornets’ favor, thanks in large part to the fantastic scoring performance All-Star guard Kemba Walker put in (Walker finished with 41 points on 29 shots from the field, including 7-of-13 from long range).
Slowly but surely, the Hornets chipped away at the Bucks’ double-digit lead, bringing it down to a one or two possession game and eventually breaking through to knot it up at 101 at the 6:23 mark of the final frame.
The Hornets’ comeback push led to new Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer inserting his superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was stuck with five fouls at that point, back into the game and the Bucks responded to go on a gutsy 9-3 run to go up by six with 2:41 to go.
Answering back, the Hornets knocked down a string of buckets that helped them earn their first lead of the night where they went up 112-111 with 36 seconds to go following a pair of free throws from Walker.
But it was Antetokounmpo and the Bucks who had the last laugh as the Greek phenom countered with a pair of free throws of his own and the Hornets couldn’t get a last second attempt to go down on the game’s final possession.
So without further ado, let’s dig into what stood out in the Bucks’ win over the Charlotte Hornets Wednesday night, starting with the Bucks’ leading man and potential MVP candidate.