Giannis comes up with big blocks down stretch to help secure Bucks' 129-125 win over Nets

NEW YORK -- The Milwaukee Bucks won their second straight game, 129-125, over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night at Barclays Center. In a back-and-forth game that featured 11 ties and six lead changes, the Bucks held on down the stretch with tough defense and key points from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

Antetokounmpo led the team with 36 points and 12 rebounds while Lillard added 21 and made 9 of his 10 free throws. Cam Thomas led the Nets with 45 points on 17 of 33 shooting.

The Bucks moved to 4-2 while the Nets dropped to 3-4.

"I hope we can be better defensively," Antetokounmpo said. "I feel like our gaps wasn't tight. Guys felt comfortable going one-on-one and getting to the rim, drawing fouls. Our help defense has gotta be better. Offensively I think the second unit did a great job just moving the ball, playing fast, getting open looks. And down the stretch I feel like Dame, me and Khris (Middleton) and our shooters were ready to play, ready to close out the game. So, there was a lot of good things that we did, there was a lot of things that we gotta get better on."

Bucks mix it up to hold off Nets

Adrian Griffin has maintained since taking over the Bucks as head coach that he only wanted to add to what had been built the previous five seasons, and one of selling points for the front office was his ability to show the edges he could sharpen. Through the first four games of the year, you could see what he was looking to accomplish on that end with more ball pressure, more switching and some zone concepts. But a couple of blowout losses to Atlanta and Toronto had some veterans convince him that playing their more traditional drop defense against New York – putting 7-foot center Brook Lopez back deep against the rim – would be the right move.

It worked in a win last Friday, as the Knicks had a legitimate center in Mitchell Robinson and a power forward in Julius Randle that could command Giannis Antetokounmpo’s attention.

BOX SCORE: Bucks 129, Nets 125

Griffin wouldn’t go so far as to say the drop is back for good for the Bucks after practice on Sunday and pregame Monday, rather maintaining the team’s need to be good at multiple defenses. The Nets would be a challenge in all of those aspects, as they were without 6-foot, 11-inch center Nic Claxton to injury.

While Ben Simmons (6-10) played for Brooklyn, he was the biggest player Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn was going to run out there for major minutes – and Vaughn himself was curious if the Bucks would keep Lopez deep in the paint or once again have him out at the top of the defense.

The Bucks responded to the smaller Nets lineups by throwing a mixture of defenses at them, but like in two losses to the Hawks and Raptors, the Nets found success from behind the three-point line and found themselves unchallenged at the rim when there was a breakdown.

"They did a good job of mixing their lineups," Bucks forward Jae Crowder said. "They went small a lot, tryin to counter us with Brook and I think we did a good job with Giannis protecting the rim late, rebounds on the defensive end and getting to the rim on the offensive end."

But in the closing minutes, the Bucks' defense stiffened.

In the final 4 minutes, 22 seconds, Middleton entered the game with Lopez, Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Crowder with the Bucks up, 117-115.

Griffin then adjusted the lineup from there to counteract Brooklyn's speed:

• Milwaukee leads 119-117, 3:21 left: Bobby Portis subs in for Lopez.Griffin: It’s tough because Brook was so great on the offensive boards down the stretch and I was trying to keep him in the game, but I thought we needed (to) go smaller so we could start switching. I put Bobby in because he played so well in that first half and in the third quarter he was phenomenal, so I wanted to give him the first crack. Then it got to where we really needed to protect the three-point line so I end up going small – smaller I should say.

• Milwaukee leads 126-123, 23.7 seconds left: Pat Connaughton in for Portis.Lillard: That's good coaching. Obviously Brook is a very important player to our team but last game I think us putting him in the drop like he's comfortable being in and what he's used to, he showed why that's valuable -- he had eight blocks. I think tonight playing against a team that defensively, they switched a lot. A lot of times when teams switch everything is disruptive to your offense because it can make you play iso(lation) and take everybody out their sets and mess up the execution. But then on the other end all those guys can shoot expect for Ben Simmons, who's not a shooter. So when he was on the floor we was able to still have Brook out there in the drop but I think toward the end of the game Jacque, he saw that, and he was like you know, a back-and-forth game, I'm going to put Royce (O'Neale) back in and try to stretch the floor out. At that point, obviously it makes sense to put a guy out there that can be on the perimeter. You don't want to put Brook in a situation where he's out there chasing these guys who are running around and shooting threes. It was just the proper adjustment to make when they changed their lineup.

The Bucks were able to apply more pressure on the Nets’ smaller lineup as Griffin downsized, and by putting in Connaughton it allowed them to switch all around the perimeter to help force tough shots by Cam Thomas, Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O'Neale in the final seconds.

"The versatility, I think, its what's going to make us dangerous in the long run," Connaughton said. "It's also something that obviously makes us a little bit, ah, inconsistent at the moment in time. But we're looking to try to build our arsenal shall we say. We're looking to have a lot of tools in the toolbox. For us part of that is making sure we can do more than one thing, especially on the defensive end. I think it'll help us in the long run just get better at communicating, which really is what playoff basketball is."

As the "five," Antetokounmpo stepped up as the biggest defender, coming up with two massive blocks and defensive rebounds to close out possessions in the final 28 seconds. He also was a strong screen-setter on the offensive side for Lillard and Middleton.

"I wasn't thinking I was the big out there, I was trying to play basketball," Antetokounmpo said. "I was fortunate to be in the right spot down the stretch and be able to get those blocks. Offensively, slowing down, giving the ball to our two best players Dame and Khris to operate and create a shot for themselves or create a good play for us, that was big by coach 'Griff.' Defensively down the stretch, we was able to switch, keep guys in front of us. We knew they wanted to play one-on-one and try to get to the rim or shoot an open three, but I think guys did a great job just containing as much as they could."

Bucks clinch it late at the line

Lillard came into the game averaging 9.4 free throw attempts per game, a tick below his career-high 9.6 from a year ago. From 2012-22, he averaged 6.2 attempts per game. While his outside shooting has yet to increase to his average, Lillard’s ability to get to the line has helped the Bucks win close games against Philadelphia and New York.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 10.4 attempts per game, helping the Bucks to the No. 1 spot in the league in free throw attempts per game (30.4) and No. 2 in free throws made at 22.2. But, they came just 22nd in the league in making those free throws at 73%.

The Nets played the Bucks tough but kept them off the free-throw line for the most part, limiting Milwaukee to 6 of 7 shooting from the charity stripe in the first half. It helped the Nets take a 67-63 lead at the break.

Milwaukee would take a lead on the last possession of the third quarter and into the early fourth, but by not getting to the line as often as they had to work to make shots consistently. That wasn’t always easy, but they managed to squeeze enough out of their half-court offense before being put on the line to close it out.

Before the final 23 seconds in which the Bucks shot six free throws, they had attempted just 16. Lillard then went 3-for-4 and Jae Crowder 1-for-2 in the closing moments. Antetokounmpo was 5-for-6.

Milwaukee made 87.5% of their free throws by going 21-for-24 from the line, creating a 10-point advantage over Brooklyn (11-for-13).

Nets three guards an issue for Bucks

Sample sizes are small at this point in the season, but the Nets have began the year with a top 10 offense both in points per game (No. 7, 116.3) and rating (No. 8, 115.9 points per 100 possessions). A large part of that has revolved around their hot three-point shooting, as they came into Monday’s game hitting 39.1% of their three-pointers. It was the third-best mark in the league. They’re also making 48.1% of their shots, which is No. 9 in the NBA.

Nets guards Cam Thomas (26.0) and Mikal Bridges (20.3) had been a formidable scoring duo in the backcourt on volume shooting through a half dozen games, giving the Bucks yet another stress test at the top of their defense.

That was not alleviated on Monday, as Thomas scored a season-high 45 points on 33 shots. Bridges was 12-for-21 for 31 points and then Lonnie Walker IV came off the bench to add 19 on 8 of 14 shooting. The trio also combined to make 10 three-pointers.

“It’s a tough team to guard,"' Griffin said. "All their guards are fast, explosive, and they’re three-point threats as well. It presented some matchup difficulties for us just for the size and quickness. These type of games build character and I thought our guys stepped up big time.”

5 numbers

0 victories at home for the Nets this season. They are now 0-3 at the Barclays Center.

2 Tenths of a second remaining in the third quarter when officials waived off a lob from Cam Payne to Antetokounmpo for offensive basket interference. The Bucks were apoplectic, and Griffin was forced to challenge the call – which he won. The basket did count, giving the Bucks a 96-94 lead going into the fourth quarter.

3 Franchise scoring leaders on the Bucks, with Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee), Lillard (Portland) and Lopez (Brooklyn). Lopez’s annual trips back to Brooklyn are always a cause for the Nets to celebrate his nine-year career that spanned the franchise’s last years in New Jersey to its first in New York. A highlight reel of Lopez’s time with the Nets was playing on TVs around the stadium.

21 Minutes for Bucks all-star Khris Middleton. He played 21 on Friday against the New York Knicks. Against the Nets, Middleton was 6-for-10 for 15 points. He finished the game playing the final 4:22.

Middleton: Feels great just to be out there, winning time, when the game's on the line. That's what every ballplayer wants to do.

50 Bench points for the Bucks, led by Jae Crowder's 15. Bobby Portis (11), MarJon Beauchamp (11) and Cameron Payne (10) also reached double figures.

Did you notice?

A highlight of the Nets’ first half-closing 17-5 run that flipped the scoreboard was a Royce O’Neale block of an Antetokounmpo two-handed dunk attempt. Brooklyn collected the ball and pushed it up court where Bridges found Dorian Finney-Smith for a bucket that gave the Nets a 63-59 lead.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks 129, Nets 125: Giannis comes up with big blocks down stretch