NEW YORK — As the Milwaukee Bucks fell behind in the third quarter, forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said the message from head coach Doc Rivers was simple.
“Get it out the mud,” Rivers told his players in the third quarter, according to Antetokounmpo.
For the second time this season, the Bucks had put themselves squarely in the mud on a Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn.
When they did it the first time, in the third game of the season, they never found their way out and suffered a 13-point loss to the Nets, leaving Antetokounmpo wondering what his team’s identity would be in the 2024-25 season. On Sunday, though, with Antetokounmpo repeating Rivers’ mantra throughout the second half, the Bucks overcame a double-digit deficit and escaped Brooklyn with a 118-113 win to take their record back over .500 (12-11). The Bucks return to Milwaukee for their quarterfinal matchup in the NBA Cup versus the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.
Despite shooting 56.3 percent from the field in the first half, the Bucks were down one at the break because of a flat effort, as Rivers described it, headlined by 10 turnovers and lackluster defense against Nets point guard Dennis Schröder, who put up 19 of his 34 points in the first two quarters. Things didn’t get much better for the Bucks at the start of the third quarter as they took a delay of game call before the half even began and then quickly trailed by double digits.
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With 3:17 left in the third, though, the game started to change, and the Bucks finally started to get themselves unstuck. Trailing by 12 points, the Bucks shifted into a zone defense, stalling out the Nets offense. The Bucks went on a 15-3 run to tie the game at 86 at the end of the third.
“It’s kind of crazy when you go zone at any level that you play in, teams get stagnant,” said Bobby Portis, who had 23 points, five rebounds and three blocks. “It’s kinda crazy you stagnate teams like that, so I think our zone really helped to end the third quarter and start the fourth.”
After working the game back to even, the Bucks put themselves in a hole again with some missed shots and turnovers and the Nets held a 100-95 lead when Rivers took a timeout with 5:46 remaining.
After a game in Boston in which Rivers felt his team tried to do too much by themselves, the Bucks closed out Sunday’s game with a selfless effort on both ends. On offense, the Bucks used the threat of their best individual scorers to create open looks for one another. On the other end, they moved to a switching defense that required all five players willing to step up to the challenge and cover every position.
The Bucks started their comeback with some shotmaking from Khris Middleton, who, in his second game of the season, put up 11 points and six assists in 20 minutes off the bench, and Portis, who went a perfect 5-of-5 from deep including four fourth-quarter 3s. While both players are capable of creating for themselves, the shots during this run were created by others.
“Today, there was no hero ball,” Antetokounmpo said. “The ball was moving. Every shot that Bobby or Khris had was either from a defensive play or it was from a swing, swing, swing or it was from a double-team pass. So, that’s more team basketball and I felt like we had better energy. We have better energy when we play that way.”
Just look at the extra passes made on this possession to get Middleton the spot-up two (his foot was on the line):
While the ball movement was nice, the Bucks didn’t flip the game in their favor until they started pairing their clutch shotmaking with great defense. Those strong defensive plays down the stretch came from an unlikely source: Portis.
“The four 3s are amazing,” Antetokounmpo said of Portis’ fourth-quarter effort. “When you’re able to score points like that in the fourth quarter down the stretch, especially in a close game, it’s incredible, but for me, every time that we were switching — because we were switching down the stretch one through five — and he was on the ball, he just made it tough.
“He made it tough on guys. And that’s what makes it even more incredible. That’s what I see.”
With the Bucks switching everything, the Nets spent the final three minutes of the game trying to get their best players in isolation situations against Portis. That did not work out for Cam Johnson as he tried to beat Portis off the dribble and got stuck in the air when his drive didn’t go anywhere:
Following his strong defensive play, Portis was rewarded with a wide-open look when Antetokounmpo was double-teamed in the post.
After a timeout from Nets coach Jordi Fernández following Portis’ 3, the Nets let Schröder try to make a play. While the Bucks were switching everything, Andre Jackson Jr. fought over the top of a screen and denied Schröder the opportunity to attack Portis. Middleton did the same thing with a screen for Johnson and Schröder was forced to try to take Jackson off the bounce.
He managed to beat the second-year wing, but Jackson’s initial pressure forced Schröder to pick his dribble up early and attempt to finish with a floater. As the backside helper, Antetokounmpo planted his feet and skied to swat the ball, getting a stop for the Bucks:
The Bucks did not score on their next offensive possession, but that just set the stage for another defensive stop from Portis.
After working for much of the possession to get Schröder the ball, the Nets finally got it to their point guard and he went about picking out his preferred defender. But that didn’t end up working for him as Portis came up with another stop, which led to an easy two points for Antetokounmpo:
“Before, I felt like they were able to move freely, get to their spots in the mid-range for the floater or play with the ball and shoot a 3, but down the stretch, it wasn’t only the shots we made; we were able to defend them,” Antetokounmpo said. “And the guy that they were picking on was Bobby and it did not work today.
“It did not work. I’m extremely proud of him. And the shots that he made, that’s also great, but I care about his defense.”
The Bucks should not be pleased with their effort to start the game. Playing a Nets team without their leading scorer Cam Thomas, they should have started the game with an intense and focused effort that left the Nets feeling defeated at halftime. Instead, they had to “get it out the mud” to make a comeback.
“Everybody had that mindset of, ‘OK. It’s not going to be pretty. We just gotta fight through it. We’re not going to let ourselves leave here without the win,’” Antetokounmpo said. “Then it carried over throughout the whole team. I give credit to Coach Doc for saying that, but he probably did not know that I took that and I kept telling everybody on the court.
“There’s going to be games that you have to do that and we did it tonight. And sometimes you face adversity and it’s the way you respond. We responded tonight and I’m very proud of the team.”
(Photo of Giannis Antetokounmpo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
