Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Milwaukee Bucks welcomed in the Washington Wizards Wednesday night for a star-studded showdown.
Following a two-game miniseries that saw the Bucks take their season series with the Brooklyn Nets at Fiserv Forum this week, there was certainly some fatigue on Milwaukee’s end. Still, even on short rest and not having two-time All-Star Khris Middleton in the lineup due to knee soreness, the Bucks gave it their all.
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In the end, Milwaukee stood their ground and overcame a valiant effort from Washington late in this one to escape with a 135-134 victory despite a combined 71 points from Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook.
Following a missed 50-foot heave at the buzzer from Washington’s Garrison Matthews, the Bucks had picked up another clutch time victory, something that has hindered them throughout the season.
Milwaukee’s hopes for higher positioning in the Eastern Conference standings remain intact after this game, as they now sit just one game back of the second seed and three games back of the first.
That will be something to monitor with six games left to play, but with that being said, here are three takeaways from Milwaukee’s clutch win over the Washington Wizards last night.
The Milwaukee Bucks rack up a season-high 31 personal fouls in win over Wizards
This game was far closer than it needed to be and Milwaukee’s consistent fouling throughout the contest certainly played a large factor in that.
The Bucks racked up a season-high 31 personal fouls against the Wizards and made a handful of head-scratching plays that nearly came back to haunt them. The biggest instance of this was just how many times the Bucks got too close on a closeout without giving the opposing player enough room to land, which would send them to the line to put extra points on the board.
Donte DiVincenzo fell victim to that fate late in this game on a 3-point attempt by Garrison Matthews, which disqualified him with his sixth foul. Giannis Antetokounmpo would soon join DiVincenzo on the sidelines as he too picked up his sixth personal late in this matchup and was forced to sit in the closing minutes.
Milwaukee’s persistent fouling provided Washington with a whopping 43 free throw attempts and luckily, they just connected on 32 of them. Frustration was undoubtedly brewing for the Bucks from an officiating standpoint as we saw both Giannis and Brook Lopez earn technical fouls for some questionable calls that ultimately went the other way.
This one was not smooth sailing by any stretch for the Bucks, but it was welcoming to see the team preserve and pick up the win.