Bucks beat Pelicans 139-118, win third straight

NEW ORLEANS – The Milwaukee Bucks concluded their two-game season series with the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, Feb. 20 with a 139-118 victory at the Smoothie King Center. It was the Bucks’ third win a row, which matched their longest winning streak of the season.

It’s currently the third longest streak in the Eastern Conference behind Cleveland (seven) and Detroit (four).

“Everyone needs that reset (of the all-star break), it’s been a long first half, it was good to go back home, but everyone came back with a great energy and kind of refreshed and relieved to come back and play,” Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. said. “This was a great team to start our streak. We know what we’re capable of and we wanted to start off the right way the second half of the season.”

Milwaukee improved to 24-30 overall and began the day in 11th place in the East. But in winning for the sixth time in their last seven games – their best stretch of the season to date – the Bucks gained a bit of ground in the loss column on a few of the teams ahead of them in the play-in standings. Atlanta (27-31) and Charlotte (26-31) each lost earlier in the day.

“Now is winning time,” Bucks guard Cam Thomas said. “We gotta string together wins. And, that’s what you live for playing in the NBA, playing meaningful basketball.”

Heading into the game, Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma said that the key to the team’s recent spate of success was simple: Ball movement.

“We just gotta be unselfish,” he told the Journal Sentinel following the team’s practice in New Orleans on Feb. 19. “At the end of the day, that’s the only reason why (we lose). If the ball stops moving, that means we’re individually selfish, you know? When it moves, then we’re good. Plain and simple.”

BOX SCORE: Bucks 139, Pelicans 118

Against the Pelicans, nine of the 10 regulars for the Bucks scored (AJ Green was 0-for-4 from the field). Seven of those players reached double figures, including Thomas (27 points off the bench), Porter (25 points, 7 assists) and Ryan Rollins (27 points).

“Just playing my game within the offense and reading the matchups, reading the defense, just playing off the guys,” Thomas said of his big night, which included 18 points in the second quarter. “Everybody’s a threat, so you love being on the court with people like that. Everybody being a threat to shoot, knock shots down, so it makes my life easier. But I think we were all just playing off one another, playing with the pass, playing together. That’s all you ask for in the basketball game. We did that and we capitalized and got stops. It was good.”

Bobby Portis Jr. (17), Kuzma (14), Pete Nance (10) and Ousmane Dieng (10) also reached double figures for the Bucks.

Milwaukee did turn it over 15 times, though, leading to 25 New Orleans points which helped them stay in the game until the final minutes when the Bucks finally broke it open with a 16-4 run late in the fourth.

Porter scored 13 of his points in that run.

“Really I just wanted to exploit the mismatches,” he said. “I think, you know, early on we were trying to not really take advantage of them switching and fourth quarter comes and at that point in the game you gotta know your disadvantages and your advantages. I just tried to get the switch and boomerang and either have the drive-and-kick or I had the drive-and-layup.”

The Bucks shot 59.8% from the floor in the game, including a 41.7% mark from behind the 3-point line. The Pelicans had similar success offensively, making 54.7% of their shots. But, their lack of 3-point shooting without an injured Trey Murphy III hurt them, as they were just 4 of 25 (16%).

New Orleans dropped to 15-42 on the year. The Pelicans had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by Zion Williamson’s 32 points.

The Bucks now head back to Milwaukee for a two-and-half-week stretch where they play nine of 10 games at Fiserv Forum through March 10. A matinee on Feb. 22 vs. Toronto begins a stretch of six games where five teams are squarely in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

“We’re playing some good teams so it’s going to be a good test for us,” Rollins said. “Good stretch, come out ready to hoop and get some ‘dubs.'”

Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. elevates toward the basket against Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears during the first half on Feb. 20 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans,

Bucks had no answer inside for Pelicans

Before the game, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers knew his team would be at a disadvantage on the front line against New Orleans with 7-foot forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and 6-11 center Myles Turner out injured, and the Pelicans took advantage of their absences from the opening tip.

The Pelicans entered the game leading the NBA in paint scoring per game with a 57.2 average, and they nearly matched that number in the first half alone with 56 in the painted area.

They finished with 84, though, as the Bucks did get more bodies into that area in the second half to put up more resistance.

“I didn’t like the first half,” Rivers said of his team’s defensive effort inside early. “We worked on paint, paint, paint and we just didn’t do a great job of it honestly in the first half. The guy on Zion did exactly what we told him to do, but he thought there would be one or two people waiting (to help) and they kept running out. At halftime we said guys, they’re 1-for-11 from the three, we need to get in the paint and make them shoot. I thought we did that in the second half.”

It was easily the most the Bucks had allowed all season long, however. Chicago scored 62 in the paint against Milwaukee on Nov. 7.

“With Zion and Queen, they’ve got a lot of force. We didn’t think that we were going to be undermanned when it came to rebounding. As you see, we missed Giannis and Myles today, (Taurean Prince), so I think the second half when we seen that, literally, but six of their points came from out the paint, we had to just pack the paint and live with them making threes. They were 1-for-11 at the half. That was the adjustment we made and it panned out.”

For a while New Orleans was on pace to threaten an impressive total Denver put up vs. Washington on Dec. 14, 2022, when the Nuggets scored 98 points in the paint. That was the most a team had scored in that area since 1997.

Williamson scored 26 of his game-high 32 points in the paint while Derik Queen scored 14 of his 18 in the paint. The Pelicans’ assault on the rim also helped them shoot 26 free throws (with 18 makes).

Bobby Portis Jr. ‘forever thankful’ for 3-point contest chance

Milwaukee Bucks big man Bobby Portis Jr. is knocking on the door of a career season in terms of shooting from beyond the 3-point line, as he entered the all-star break knocking down 45.1% of his attempts from behind the arc. It is his best percentage with a high volume (attempting 4.2 per game) while his 47.1% on 2.4 attempts per game in 2020-21 remains his personal best in a season.

He ended the first half of the season making 44.4% of his threes after sitting out two games with a hip contusion, but against New Orleans on Feb. 20 Portis made an impact on the interior – including a ferocious tip slam in the first half.

He scored 17 points off the bench but was just 1 of 3 from behind the 3-point line.

“I’m forever thankful to be invited to participate in the 3-point contest,” he said after the Bucks’ morning shootaround in New Orleans. “Eleven years ago when I was drafted in 2015 I never thought that would be a thing, you feel me? So, hard work pay off.”

Portis did not advance out of the first round of the contest, but he said the entire experience of being in the room with not only great shooters but other all-time greats around the weekend “was just a great experience through and through. More than just shooting, more so like a life experience for me.”

Portis also recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds, which gave him 87 off the bench for his career. That moved him past Roy Tarpley into second all-time for double-doubles in a reserve role. Detlef Schrempf is the NBA’s all-time leader with 106.

Giannis Antetokounmpo to take next step in rehab

Antetokounmpo is getting closer to a return from his Jan. 23 soleus muscle strain in his right calf, though, as he participated in half of a practice Feb. 19. Antetokounmpo said at the all-star game Feb. 15 that he feels 100% but admitted he needed to go through some live practices before being cleared. Antetokounmpo also felt the timing of the break was a bit unfortunate as he didn’t have his team around to begin that ramp-up process.

Rivers said before the game against New Orleans he didn’t think the all-star break slowed Antetokounmpo’s recovery at all, and live sessions will begin in Milwaukee when the team is back in town on Feb. 21.

“I think he’s gonna do some three-on-three, the typical buildup that we do, three-on-three, four-on-four, five-on-five,” Rivers said. “Then we’ll go to the angels and we’ll see.”

Antetokounmpo suffered his first strain in that calf on Dec. 3 and was out until Dec. 27. In the 13 games he played between Dec. 27 and Jan. 23, he averaged 29 minutes per game and topped 32 minutes just twice. When asked if the two-time league MVP would have to be on a restriction on this next return, or if the goal was to hold him out until he could play a more regular 32-35 minutes, Rivers said he didn’t know.

“I mean, honestly,” the coach continued. “They’ll tell me that and we’ll go with it. But I literally don’t know right now.”

Antetokounmpo has not been at full capacity, minutes wise, since Nov. 15. He strained his left adductor on Nov. 17 in Cleveland, and has had his minutes limited since.

More: 3 things to watch for as the Bucks return from the NBA all-star break

5 numbers

2-4: Bucks record when trying to win a third straight game. They began the year 0-4 in their attempts to win a third game in a row.

9-15: Bucks record without Giannis Antetokounmpo. They are 15-15 when he plays.

21: Minutes for Cam Thomas. Doc Rivers said Thomas was on a minute restriction due to a hamstring injury Thomas had suffered in Brooklyn.

Thomas: “I’ve been fine. I’ve been fine for months. So, I think just first game back from the break they didn’t want to go too crazy. I mean, we were up by 20 points and didn’t want to risk anything. But I mean, I’m fine, I’m ready to go, I’m healthy. Healthy as ever, feeling great. So I think it was just the game, really. We blew it open and it was no point in going back in.”

103: Points scored by the Bucks through three quarters. They scored 103 or fewer points in 14 different games heading into the contest vs. the Pelicans.

1/23/26: The last time Jordan Poole played for the Pelicans. The 26-year-old Milwaukee native played 25 minutes off the bench on Feb. 20, scoring three points and handing out three assists.

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