Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 103-100 loss to Utah Jazz
The Milwaukee Bucks suffered an absolute heartbreaker as they fell to the Utah Jazz Friday night at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
Make it 18 years and counting since the Milwaukee Bucks last won in Salt Lake City as they fell to a buzzer beating 103-100 loss against the Utah Jazz Friday night.
Things couldn’t have started uglier for the Bucks as they missed their first five shots to open up the game, forcing a quick timeout from head coach Mike Budenholzer. The Bucks quickly responded with some triples from Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, but they went cold once again to eventually trail the Jazz 30-16 at the end of one.
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Milwaukee’s struggles persisted throughout the entire second quarter and the Jazz, more so the struggling Mike Conley, continued to make them pay from long range. The Jazz entered halftime with a 55-35 lead over the Bucks.
The halftime interval proved to be a fruitful regrouping for the Bucks as they quickly cut into the double-digit deficit once play resumed in the second half.
The Bucks spent the entire third quarter chipping away at the Jazz’s lead, thanks to the second half awakening from superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, before trailing by 7 at 81-74 through three.
That continued into the fourth period and after spending the entire second half cutting into the Jazz’s control of the contest, the Bucks found their breakthrough, albeit a brief one, at the 5:47 mark in the fourth quarter. Utah quickly responded and proceeded to go on a 12-5 run up until the final minute of play.
After a costly sixth foul from Antetokounmpo, they got huge buckets from the likes of Eric Bledsoe as well as Sterling Brown, and it was Khris Middleton who knocked down two clutch free throws to miraculously knot things up at 100 with eight ticks to go.
A critical steal from George Hill on Donovan Mitchell managed to give the Bucks the ball with 2.3 seconds left, which prompted the savvy veteran to call a huge timeout. But the Bucks’ heroics were dashed by a confounding travel call made by Middleton after passing up a corner three coming out of the timeout.
And it was Middleton who was late to contest a corner three from Bojan Bogdanovic on the other end as the Jazz put away the Bucks with the buzzer beating win to go 6-3 on the season.
So without further ado, let’s explore what all stood out in the Bucks’ heartbreaking loss to the Utah Jazz from Friday night.