With both teams on the second night of a back-to-back, the Milwaukee Bucks were unable to replicate Wednesday’s win over the Detroit Pistons, going down 112-124. Kevin Porter Jr. gave everything for the Bucks, racking up 32 points, six assists, and four rebounds. For Detroit, it was Cade Cunningham who starred, dropping 23 points, 12 assists, and six boards.
It was a much better start for the Bucks in this game than it was on Wednesday. Myles Turner was the story early, with 12 points on 4/4 shooting. Some of those opportunities came in transition off Pistons turnovers; the home team gave the ball away six times in the opening stanza. Kyle Kuzma was also a beneficiary of the giveaways, scoring multiple times at the rim as the Bucks attacked with an advantage. At the same time, Milwaukee struggled to slow down Cade Cunningham, and even contributions from Duncan Robinson, Caris LeVert, and Javonte Green had the home team up 22-29 after one.
The Bucks opened the second in their 2-3 zone—which worked wonders in limiting Detroit’s offence a few days ago—and immediately forced two straight turnovers, scoring more transition points. Kuzma had the Bucks’ first seven points of the period, evening the tally at 29 and looking as dangerous as he had all season. I must say, the Bucks’ defence was just spectacular in this period. Cunnigham was simply unable to shake Jericho Sims; plus, AJax even gave solid minutes. The Pistons did manage to extend their lead to double digits, but Kevin Porter Jr. kept the visitors in it. With Ryan Rollins in foul trouble, Porter had 19 points on 7/8 shooting at half (plus four steals), all while being hounded by Ausar Thompson. A late Gary Trent Jr. triple had the Bucks down just five, 56-61, going into the locker rooms.
The Bucks just kept sticking around throughout the third. KPJ continued his ridiculous shot-making, nailing two tough corner threes in the early going. Also, Rollins finally got off his donut with a bomb of his own, which he parlayed into a few floaters off the glass later in the period. Alas, the Pistons began to win the possession battle; they relentlessly attacked the O-boards, a category they beat the Bucks in 5-2 in the third, while also forcing a couple of Bucks turnovers. This allowed the home team to lead 91-81 after three.
Jaden Ivey hit a quick set of three pointers to open the final frame, as Doc called a quick timeout with Milwaukee’s deficit ballooning to the high teens. KPJ came out of the timeout with his sixth three of the night, most of which felt like self-created shots. Javonte Green then responded with a quick five points, which felt like the final knockout punch as the Pistons’ lead swelled close to 20. From there, it was all academic as Doc subbed the deep bench lads on and accepted the L.
Ryan Rollins was plagued by foul trouble and never really found a rhythm, going 4/14 and 1/7 from three in 22 minutes. The Bucks rely on Rollins as a key cog, and so even with KPJ’s mastery, they had little chance to win.