The Warriors entered this game looking to snap a 3 game losing streak. The Bucks on the other hand were trying to add to a 3 game win streak and a 19-1 record in their last 20 games. 2 of the 3 wins of the streak came without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks would be without Giannis in this one as well. The Warriors were quite shorthanded themselves as they would miss Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II, and Andrew Wiggins. The Warriors were slightly favored in this game despite this. The Bucks came into this game with the best record in the NBA and a top defense in the league which they would look to utilize in this game. The Warriors would look to take advantage of the Bucks without Giannis as a loss would drop their record to .500. This was a home game for the Warriors who entered this game at 27-7 at home. The absences for both teams would likely mean that the bench players would be essential in a winning effort. One guy in specific being Donte DiVincenzo who came off the bench to start this game. This was a big game for Donte personally as he would be playing his former team in the Milwaukee Bucks. If Donte and the Warriors were going to win this game they would need to get rolling early and shoot well as a team. If the Bucks were going to win this game they would need some smaller names to step up as they did in their past couple of games. They would also need to defend well and make sure that Steph and Klay wouldn’t be able to make a couple of shots and catch fire. Would the Warriors snap their losing streak with a win or would the Bucks be able to pull off another win without Giannis Antetokounmpo? To the game!
Brook Lopez won the tip for the Bucks which led to a missed jumper. The Warriors then scored first with a couple of Klay Thompson free throws. The Bucks then got their first bucket on an alley-oop layup from Brook Lopez. Klay then banked in a 9 footer on the next possession to give the Warriors the lead. At 8:55, Jrue Holiday made a jumper to tie the game at 4. At 6:45, the Warriors called a timeout after no one had scored for over 2 minutes. Jordan Poole came out of the timeout with a 3 to give the Warriors the lead. At 5:42, Pat Connaughton made a 3 to give the Bucks the lead. JaMychal Green hit a corner 3 on the next play to take back the lead. Grayson Allen came right back to make a reverse layup to take the lead right back for the Bucks. The Bucks then took a timeout at 3:15 following a Donte DiVincenzo 3. At 2:40, JaMychal Green made a corner 3 to give the Warriors a 2 point lead. Then at 1:22 JaMychal Green made a layup to give the Warriors a 5 point lead. To end the quarter Bobby Portis made a corner 3 to make the score 28-26. The Warriors won the quarter with the help of JaMychal Green who led both teams with 11 points. Brook Lopez led the Bucks with 7 points.
JaMychal Green made a layup to start the 2nd quarter. After a Jrue Holiday 3, Jae Crowder made 2 free throws at 10:17 that gave the Bucks the lead. On the next play Jordan Poole made a fadeaway 3 to take back the lead for the Warriors. At 6:56, Golden State called a timeout following a Jevon Carter layup that made it a 2 point game. At 6:34, Donte DiVincenzo made a 3 to give the Warriors a 5 point lead. Then at 3:50 the Bucks called a timeout while down 6. At 2:23, Steph fouled Jrue Holiday after the original call was overturned from a shooting foul on Jrue. The Bucks then hit 2 threes to tie the game at 47. With 12 seconds left in the half Jordan Poole fouled Khris Middleton which gave him 2 free throws as it put the Bucks in the bonus. Middleton made both to give the Bucks a 2 point lead. To end the half Donte DiVincenzo made a 3 to give the Warriors the lead at halftime. The Warriors led 50-49 at halftime. The Bucks won the 2nd quarter 23-22 though. This was a bit of a low scoring 1st half due to some good defense from both teams. Brook Lopez had 2 blocks in the 1st half and played great defense down low for the Bucks. Some bad shooting from both teams also contributed to the low score as the Warriors shot just 35.3% from the field and 41.7% from 3 and the Bucks shot 34.7% from the field and 36% from 3. These splits were a bit odd as both teams shot better from outside the arc than they did inside it. The Warriors were led by Donte DiVincenzo in the 1st half who had 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and a block. JaMychal Green had 13 points as well for the Warriors. Nobody was in double-digits for the Bucks at halftime as their leading scorer was Khris Middleton with 9. If the Warriors were going to win this game they would need to keep working on the defensive end and get rolling on offense. If the Bucks were going to get their 4th straight they would need to start knocking down shots and keep defending well. To the 3rd!
Brook Lopez made a layup to start the 3rd quarter and give the Bucks a 1 point lead. At 11:03, Draymond Green made a layup to reclaim the lead for the Warriors. Klay Thompson then hit back-to-back threes to give the Warriors a 7 point lead. At 8:53, Stephen Curry made a 3 to give the Warriors a 10 point lead and prompt a Milwaukee timeout. After a possession for each team, the Warriors were forced to take a timeout after Draymond Green limped off of the court in the middle of a play. Green went to the locker room with what looked to be some sort of an ankle injury. At 5:45, Grayson Allen made a layup to make it an 8 point game. At 3:08, Brook Lopez made a layup to cut it to a 5 point game. Then at 2:25 the Warriors took a timeout following a 3 from Joe Ingles that made it a 4 point lead. Klay Thompson came out of the timeout with a 3. With 38.7 seconds left in the quarter Draymond Green reentered the game. To end the quarter the Warriors and Bucks traded 2 pointers. The Warriors led 80-77 at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Warriors won the 3rd quarter 30-28. JaMychal Green led the Warriors through 3 with 18 points and Bobby Portis led the Bucks with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
To start the 4th quarter Grayson Allen made a layup at the 11 minute mark. At 9:41, Khris Middleton made a jumper to put the Bucks up 1. At 9:22, Donte DiVincenzo made a 3 to give the Warriors the lead once more. Jevon Carter then took the lead back for the Bucks with a 3 of his own. At 8:33, Kevon Looney made a put-back layup to give the Warriors a 1 point lead. At 8:13, Bobby Portis made a 3 to take the lead back for the Bucks. At 7:48, Draymond Green made a 3 to give the Warriors a 1 point lead once more. Then at 6:49, Jrue Holiday took the lead back with another 3. Kevon Looney punched home a dunk on the next play to tie the game. At 5:22, the Warriors took a timeout after the Bucks took a 6 point lead with the help of a couple of threes. The Bucks then took a timeout at 3:43 after the Warriors cut the lead to 5 with a Klay Thompson 3. The Warriors and Bucks traded a few threes before a timeout was called by the Bucks with 1:28 to go. At 1:08 Steph made a 3 to make it a 2 point game. With 45.6 seconds left Steph made a fast-break layup after a steal from Klay. Then with 33 seconds to go, Jrue Holiday made a 3 to give the Bucks a 3 point lead. The Warriors called a timeout immediately after this. Jordan Poole got blocked by Brook Lopez but the Warriors then forced a Jrue Holiday turnover. Steph then hit a step-back 3 to tie the game with 19 seconds to go. The Bucks called a timeout with 8 seconds to go. Steph then blocked a Jrue Holiday layup attempt and Draymond secured the ball and called a timeout with 2 seconds to go. Draymond then missed a potential game winning 3. Steph looked to have been open on the play but Draymond didn’t think that there was time to pass it and get a shot up. The score was 111-111 at the end of regulation.
Brook Lopez won the overtime tip-off which led to Lopez making a floater. At 3:55, Steph made a floater to tie the game once more. At 3:22, Klay made a midrange jumper to give the Warriors a 2 point lead. Then at 2:41 Klay banked in a floater to give the Warriors a 4 point lead. At 2:04, Steph made a 3 off the dribble to give the Warriors a 7 point lead and force a Bucks timeout. Khris Middleton made a 3 out of the timeout to make it a 4 point game. At 1:26, Kevon Looney was fouled on a layup and made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Warriors a 5 point lead. Draymond got the offensive rebound on the missed free throw and kicked it out to Steph who missed a shot. Klay got another offensive rebound which led to a Stephen Curry layup. After a miss on the Bucks end, Steph was fouled and knocked down 2 free throws. Khris Middleton was then fouled while shooting a very deep 2. Middleton missed both free throws. Steph turned the ball over on a double dribble but it didn’t matter as the Warriors had a 9 point lead with 15 seconds left. Steph eventually dribbled out the game after a Jrue Holiday missed 3.
Leo’s Courtside Commentary:
This was a great win for the Warriors that snapped a 3 game losing streak. This win put the Warriors 2 games over .500 and a half a game back of the Clippers for the 5 seed in the Western Conference. The win was also quite important for the confidence of the team. The loss for the Bucks snapped their 3 game win streak. In tandem with a Celtics win, this loss put the Bucks just a game and a half above Boston with a record of 48-19. This great Warrior win was aided by a very clutch performance from Stephen Curry who had a total of 22 points in the 4th quarter and beyond and 36 in the full game. Curry made many difficult shots and had 9 of the Warriors’ 14 points in overtime. Curry also helped lead a 9-0 run in overtime to vault the Warriors to a win. Some other guys that were key in this game were Klay Thompson with 22 points, Donte DiVincenzo with 20 points, and JaMychal Green with 18 points. Bobby Portis led the Bucks in this game with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Middleton and Lopez chipped in for the Bucks as well with 19 points a piece. Brook Lopez was also a massive factor on the defensive end as he had 5 blocks and affected many more shots. Both teams shot pretty similarly as the Warriors shot just 41.1% from the field and 41.8% from 3 and the Bucks shot 43% from the field and 41.3% from 3. Both teams shot well from 3 but were unable to get going inside the arc. The Warriors dominated the boards though 65-48 during this game which definitely showed its importance late. The Bucks were incredible in transition on the other hand as they had 20 fast break points to the Warriors’ 5. This game was very close the entire way due to the great defense from both teams as the largest lead for either team was just 13 points. Overall, this was a very exciting win for the Warriors that was powered by numerous clutch shots down the stretch.
Out of LF 