Time and time again, the Milwaukee Bucks have let games get away from them in the fourth quarter. Saturday's 114-108 win over the Sacramento Kings was the complete opposite, with the Bucks rallying in the second half to come out on top.
Damian Lillard was again absent due to right calf soreness, so Giannis Antetokounmpo led the team with 32 points, Brook Lopez added 21 and a plethora of others got their fair share. Kyle Kuzma really stepped up and showed his do-it-all ability, scoring 14 points on 50 percent shooting and claiming 14 rebounds to go with it.
Sacramento was missing their starting center, Domantas Sabonis, but Jonas Valanciunas is a more than capable replacement. With the Milwaukee Bucks themselves short-handed in the frontcourt, it was integral that Kuzma was effective on the glass.
Kyle Kuzma's rebounding has been vital for the Bucks and must continue
Since the trade to acquire Kuzma, much has been made about his struggles from 3-point range, where he is making just 29.5 percent of his shots with Milwaukee. That does need to improve but should not detract from his effectiveness in other areas of the game. Bobby Portis' suspension, Jericho Sims' injury and Lopez being quiet on the boards means the Milwaukee Bucks need Kuzma to continue doing this.
The forward is currently averaging 14 points, 6.7 rebounds and two assists on shooting splits of .437/.295/.671 with the Bucks. With Portis' scoring missing, the pressure has been on Kuzma to keep adding points consistently to fill the void. Kevin Porter Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. have been brilliant off the bench, but that frontcourt scoring is still needed from Kuzma.
His rebounding shouldn't go under the radar, with eight of them coming in the second half of Saturday's game as the Bucks won the half 55-37 to snatch the victory. It has not been an easy stretch for the Bucks. They have found it difficult to find any consistency and with players hitting the injury report here and there, they have dropped games in a pivotal time of the season.
Milwaukee sits fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 40-30 record, one game back of the Indiana Pacers, and the two seem destined to meet in the postseason yet again. The Bucks will be hoping they can claw that four spot away and get home-court advantage. Either way, if they get past the Pacers, they will be likely to face the Cleveland Cavaliers, who they have yet to beat this season.
The last faced the Cavs on March 10, losing 112-100. That was the beginning of the gauntlet run the Bucks have had to endure. They are currently 4-4, but they still have to face former head coach Mike Budenholzer and the Phoenix Suns and Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets before returning to Fiserv Forum to take on the New York Knicks.
The run into April is much easier and would be where the Milwaukee Bucks hopefully get finely tuned for the postseason, with their final two regular season games being against the Detroit Pistons, who sit just 1.5 games back in sixth.
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