Bucks – Blazers 107-122: Gela without antetokunbo on Ibaka’s debut

Giannis Antitokoumbo was ruled out of the game due to a sprain in the game against the Phoenix Suns. Pat Conaton, George Hill and Brooke Lopez as well. The Bucks believed they would still pull off an easy win in the 58th game of the regular season, but they made a very poor impression, being defeated at home by the Blazers (107-122) and missing a good opportunity to dynamically claim an even the first location in the Eastern Region.

At 35-23, Milwaukee’s side (19-10 home and 16-13 away) starting their home game in the worst possible way, can greatly improve their record and their chances of first place in the first circle four. Serge Ibaka made his debut days after the move that sent him to Wisconsin from Los Angeles, Jru Holliday and Bobby Portis did their best but apart from some outbursts from Grayson Allen – Jordan Nu The Bucks didn’t show anything special either in defense or in front Attack. Chris Middleton made the triple-double (16 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists) but was unlucky without an antetokunbo on his side.

The Blazers rose to 24-24 (16-16 home and 8-18 away) as they continue to contend for a place in the Western District’s top ten. the Eric Blencho, Damian Lillard, Dennis Smith, Didi Luzada, Kion Johnson, Nashir Little, Joe Ingles were unavailable some of them will miss the rest of the season but the young point guard was with Anard and Guards. – Yusuf Nurkic, led the Portland team, a team with a very limited rotation, to one of their most important wins of the current season.

The Bucks will play their next five games at home with the Pacers, Sixers, Nets, Hornets and Heat. The first away game will be played by the Bulls in neighboring Chicago on March 4th.

The race

With Ibaka having defense, two points, rebounds and nails in the first two minutes of the game, the Bucks got into play well but quickly lost Middleton, who committed two fouls. What was important was that this time the bench gave solutions, either with the “hot” Noora, or with Monroe, or with the notorious Wigginton, so as not to miss Portland, who played with considerable motivation, took 9 points from Nurkic and 7 from Hart for the 30-31 of the season.

Portis and Allen gave Milwaukee the lead early in the second game, with the former breaking the bat, the latter placing the peripheral shots and Josh Hart suddenly fighting the Blazers alone. But not for long. The visitors found rhythm and confidence towards the end of the first half when Simmons hit three threes to make it 48-65 (split score 5-26 in seven minutes) and 54-71 at halftime, which was a cause for concern. Portland was great, had 17 assists for six errors, saw the Bucks’ weaknesses on defense and beat them mercilessly.

And while everyone was waiting for the hosts to break out early in the second half, the Blazers went to +21 (61-82) in 28′ and not only weren’t threatened, they kept the difference to that level until the end of the third period. . No matter what the hosts tried, they didn’t succeed, Middleton was missing in the twelve minutes (0/5 shots), but a good phase came with the 9th minute remaining when Holiday made a three-pointer to make it 90-98 that he gave Deer hopes of a fall. Simmons was back to answer. Again, the Blazers kept the difference at a safe level.

At 5:26 Portis committed an unsportsmanlike foul on Nurkic and somewhere around there the spectators realized that everything was settled. Holiday and Middleton were looking to make the final effort, but the Blazers were no longer playing with impressive confidence and would not falter, let alone interest, in the final minutes.

THE TWELVE MINUTES: 30-31, 54-71, 78-94, 107-122

MILGUOKI BUKS (Mike Budenholzer): Middleton 16 (2/7 two points, 1/8 three points, 9/10 shots, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 4 errors), Ibaka 6 (3/5 two points, 7 rebounds) , Portis 17 (7/11 two points, 1/4 three points, 9 rebounds), Allen 14 (4/10 three points), Holiday 23 (6/10 two points, 3/6 three points, 2/2 shots, 6 assists, 7 errors), Matthews, Noora 17 (4/8 two points, 3/6 three points), Monroe 3, Wingington 11 (1/3 two points, 1/3 three points, 6/8 shots), Thanasis Antetokunbo, Mamukelasvili

PORTLAND TRAILER BLAZER (Chance Bilaps): Elby 10 (1 three points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists), Winslow 13 (1 three points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals), Nurkic 23 (5/14 two points, 2/2 three points ). , 7/8 shots, 16 rebounds, 4 assists), Hart 27 (5/7 two points, 5/9 three points, 2/2 shots, 7 rebounds, 5 assists), Simmons 31 (5/8 two points, 7 /16 three points, 6 assists) Watford 9 (1 point, 10 rebounds, 5 assists), McLemore 5 (1/7 shots), Brown 2, Hughes 2

Milwaukee Bucks team stats: 25/48 two points, 13/41 three points, 18/24 shots, 51 rebounds, 18 assists, 8 steals, 3 blocks, 13 errors, 18 fouls

Portland Trail Blazers team stats: 27/46 two points, 18/43 three points, 14/19 shots, 65 rebounds, 30 assists, 8 steals, 6 blocks, 13 errors, 19 fouls