The Milwaukee Bucks entered the fourth quarter Friday night down by 11 points, on the road and would lose Giannis Antetokounmpo with a chunk of the game to go and the game still lead by Dallas. The Milwaukee Bucks played some strong defense against Luka Doncic late, led by Khris Middleton who put up a blockade on Luka forcing him to pass out.
The Milwaukee Bucks also, according to Giannis Antetokounmpo, got some good fortune from the basketball gods. This game in essence boiled down to the last three minutes of the game.
Let’s look at how the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks got to those final decisive minutes.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks comeback against the Mavericks: How did the Bucks get down, then come back?
The Milwaukee Bucks were facing the Dallas Mavericks for the second time in less than two weeks, the other matchup being a more decisive win for the Bucks in Milwaukee. This matchup, very in favor of the Mavericks for the first 3.5 quarters, turned into a lesson in fundamentals and not giving up when you’re down until the clock hits all zeroes.
The first half of this game was pretty close, the Milwaukee Bucks held a 52-48 lead despite Giannis Antetokounmpo shooting just 2-of-10 from the field and only recording five points. The third quarter is when the Dallas Mavericks grabbed a stranglehold on the Bucks, the Mavericks won the third quarter 36-21, taking the Bucks from up four to down 11. Every Maverick that touched the floor with the exception of Spencer Dinwiddie scored in the third quarter.
Then this game turned into must watch television, admittedly some big dunks by Luka Doncic and Spencer Dinwiddie had the home crowd behind the Mavericks. However, the Milwaukee Bucks showed some championship mettle and stuck with their game and chipped away and chipped away at the Mavericks lead.
With eight minutes to go and the Mavericks leading by as many points as there was time remaining, the Bucks got an and-one layup by Giannis Antetokounmpo, three of his 15 points in the quarter. The Bucks got a stop, a layup by Grayson Allen, another stop and then another and-one by Giannis. In just over a minute, the Mavericks went from up eight, to looking up and seeing the game tied at 94 with just under seven minutes to play.
That’s where things get even more interesting.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks comeback win against Mavericks: What happened to the Mavericks at the free throw line?
The Dallas Mavericks reclaimed the lead on the first of two free throws by Spencer Dinwiddie, 95-94. Dinwiddie missed the second free throw and he Bucks got arguably the biggest shot of his short season from Pat Connaughton, a 3-pointer that gave the Bucks a two point lead 97-95.
Did that 3-point shot rattle Dallas on the basis that they had been outscored by 13 points in six minutes? Perhaps, Dallas’ next scoring opportunity came from Luka Doncic at the free throw line, like Dinwiddie he made the first and missed the second, leaving the lead with the Bucks. Two free throws by Giannis, who was a respectable 7-for-10 at the free throw line, a jumper by Luka and two made free throws by Josh Green, the Mavericks reclaimed a 100-99 lead, over the final four minutes of the game, no player from Dallas would complete a trip to the free throw line without missing.
The Bucks got a massive 3-point shot from George Hill to take the lead back 102-100, followed by a 1-of-2 trip to the free throw line from Dwight Powell. Shortly after, Giannis Antetokounmpo fouled out with 28 points, ending his streak of consecutive 30 point games at eight. Giannis had scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and left the Bucks to play the final three minutes of the game without their best player.
Giannis fouled out by running into Tim Hardaway Jr. on a 3-point attempt, Hardaway missed all three free throws! Khris Middleton took over the role of closer and made a jump shot to give the Bucks a three point lead. Spencer Dinwiddie made another dunk that got the crowd back into the game over DPOY candidate Brook Lopez. Two possessions later the Mavericks took the lead on a layup by Luka Doncic. The Bucks missed their next shot and the Bucks fouled Dorian Finney-Smith on the Mavericks inbound with 10.7 seconds remaining.
Finney-Smith missed not one, but BOTH of his free throws, leaving just a one point deficit for the Bucks to overcome. Following a rebound by Jrue Holiday on the second miss and a timeout, Mike Budenholzer drew up a play with George Hill inbounding who could not have thrown the ball closer to the hoop without it going through the rim, hit Brook Lopez for the game winning shot, the only field goal Lopez registered in this game.
Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks comeback win against Mavericks: Clutch time performance
As mentioned, Brook Lopez made the game winning shot, a shot that put the Bucks up for good 106-105, his only made shot of the night. Look at the play though, see first George Hill inbounding, then a fantastic screen set by Khris Middleton on Maxi Kleber, following that screen all of the Mavericks’ attention is on Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, allowing a free run to the basket for Lopez and a finish to give the Bucks the lead.
Then the Milwaukee Bucks weren’t finished, they left 7.8 seconds on the clocks for the Mavericks to have a chance at a game winner. However, more great coaching showed through, the Mavericks set up a play they have used multiple times this season in the closing seconds of tight games. The Bucks coaching staff diagnosed the set-up of the play and relayed it to the players prompting some defensive switches before the inbounds. With the Mavericks out of timeouts, they had no chance but to try their play despite the Bucks knowing what was coming.
The defensive switches before the inbounds resulted in Jrue Holiday switching on to Luka Doncic after a screen by Christian Wood and a desperation 3-point shot attempted by Luka from 30 feet away that didn’t touch the rim and sealed the comeback. Here this sequence is described in great detail and explained very well by Gibson Pyper of Half Court Hoops.
The Mavericks were 7-of-15 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter of this game, undoubtedly part of what let the Bucks come back to win this game. The Mavericks at the line for the game were 10-of-24 at the charity stripe, 41.7 percent. Shockingly, 14 missed free throws isn’t the most the Mavericks have had this season, Dallas missed 15 free throws in an overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons on the first of this month.
Conversely, the Milwaukee Bucks shot very efficiently in the fourth quarter, 6-of-7 at the free throw line and 12-of-18 on field goals including 3-of-6 behind the 3-point line.
This win will certainly be remembered towards the end of the season when seeding questions for the playoffs begin to arise.
The Milwaukee Bucks play the Rockets in Houston tonight, stay tuned for more analysis.