The Warriors get outmuscled by the Bucks on the road and lose 111-128.
A barrage of drives and technical fouls make the Warriors lose their composure, Steph Curry and Jordan Poole struggle against the Bucks' defense, and the Warriors start their road trip with a loss
In March of this year, the Warriors, just a few days before Draymond Green’s return from injury, beat the Bucks soundly at home with a three-guard small-ball starting lineup of Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Looney despite absences from Draymond, Otto Porter Jr., and Gary Payton II. I was surprised to see all of those veteran absences in the box score from that March game, which made it jarring to see a Warriors’ team whose broad outlines aren’t that much different get soundly blown out by the Bucks on the road.
Tonight’s game was the first of a six-game road trip, one that the Warriors desperately need to finish with at least a .500 record. A blowout loss to start the road trip is not ideal and the Warriors will need something of a vibe shift to get back on the right track. The Warriors’ starters looked more than capable of playing the Bucks even, but eventually, the physicality of the Giannis Antetokounmpo/Brook Lopez frontcourt started to wear the Warriors down.
The Bucks shot 9 free throws in the first quarter — the Warriors would shoot just two in the half — and scored 12 of their first 14 points of the night on layups or free throws. Once Bobby Portis Jr. hit the Bucks’ first jumper of the night 7 minutes into the quarter, Milwaukee’s jumbo-sized frontcourt started pouring in jumpers over the Warriors’ comparatively pint-sized bigs. Things really started to go downhill after Steph Curry and Steve Kerr got called for technical fouls protesting — incorrectly, in my opinion — contact on a missed three-point attempt, which turned let the Bucks pad a 9-point lead with a pair of free throws before the end of the quarter. Those technical fouls were the Warriors’ second and third of the night. They would turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg as the Warriors tallied five technical fouls and generally looked the part of a frustrated team with poor impulse control.
Plenty of other things went poorly for the Warriors tonight:
They committed 17 turnovers and looked incapable of figuring out what to do when the Bucks top-locked the Warriors’ shooters to take away three-point shots. When the Warriors did do something about the top-locking, they often chose to throw the ball into a congested paint with predictably poor results.
The Bucks actually committed 20 turnovers tonight, but the Warriors failed to capitalize on several opportunities, including two costly turnovers in the late third quarter that have trimmed the Bucks’ lead to 14 points if the Warriors had converted in transition.
The Warriors got big shooting nights from Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Lamb, and Jonathan Kuminga and finished the night with 20 made threes to the Bucks’ 12. But poor shooting nights from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson — 3/10 and 2/7 shooting from deep respectively — made it hard for the Warriors to gain traction in the game’s high-leverage moments.
You probably could have guessed this without looking at a box score, but the Warriors were dominated in the interior, on the glass, and at the free-throw line. The Bucks blocked five Warriors shots in humiliating fashion, they outrebounded them by 20 boards, and shot 32 free throws to the Warriors’ 19, including a 13 to 2 discrepancy in the first half.
JaMychal Green fouled out in a little more than a quarter’s worth of playing time and missed all four of his field goal attempts, all of which came from three. Green, who was a very good three-point shooter before an outlier slump in his previous season with the Denver Nuggets, is now 8/41 from three and looks perilously close to losing his minutes to James Wiseman.
Jordan Poole had his first Milwaukee homecoming since becoming a notable figure within the NBA and struggled with the Bucks’ physicality in the paint. He and Steph Curry both looked flustered by the Bucks’ bruising defense and despite various attempts to shake defenders off-ball, had few moments where they looked like they’d found any type of rhythm.
Rotation watch:
1st Q:
12:00 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/D. Green/Looney: 0-0, tie game.
4:58 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Kuminga/J. Green: 13-16, Bucks lead.
3:53 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Thompson/Kuminga/J. Green: 16-22, Bucks lead.
1:59 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Moody/Kuminga/J. Green: 18-27, Bucks lead.
0:17 — Curry/PooleDiVincenzo/Kuminga/J. Green: 27-38, Bucks lead.
In the opening minutes of the first quarter, the Warriors played focused defense on two-time MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo and kept him from getting easy looks at the hoop. While Giannis did get to the line twice in the early first quarter, the Warriors led 9-5 when Antetokounmpo scored his first field goal at the 8:20 mark of the game. Jordan Poole opened the scoring for the Warriors with a three-pointer, followed by a three and fading midrange jumper by Klay Thompson. Although the Warriors missed their first layups of the game, they did actually manage to score on the interior against Bucks’ center, Brook Lopez, one of the most fierce rim protectors in the NBA by putting him in motion on defense:
After that Poole layup at the end of the above clip, the Bucks made their first subs of the night, and a few minutes later, so did the Warriors: Jonathan Kuminga and JaMychal Green came in for Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney and the Bucks quickly went to work hunting post mismatches, first by dragging Jordan Poole into actions against Bobby Portis and later, on this bruising post-up by Lopez:
The rim protection of Brook Lopez has been excellent this year, but his shooting ability hurt the Warriors, none of whom could get a hand up close enough to contest his shots. Lopez hit another midrange jumper over JaMychal Green, followed by a deep three with 47 seconds left in the period mark to put the Bucks up 10. Steph Curry hit a three on the next possession to bring the Bucks’ lead down to 7 points and took another one the next time down, but did not receive enough contact to earn a foul call. That set off both Curry and Steve Kerr who got well-deserved technical fouls for berating the officials over the no-call and after Khris Middleton hit both technical free throws, the Bucks took an 11-point lead into the second quarter.
2nd Q:
12:00 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Lamb/Kuminga/D. Green: 27-38, Bucks lead.
7:35 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Lamb/Kuminga/Looney: 42-49, Bucks lead.
6:07 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Thompson/Lamb/Looney: 42-53, Bucks lead.
5:13 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Lamb/Looney: 42-55, Bucks lead.
When the Bucks called their first time out of the second quarter at the 7:35 mark, Donte DiVincenzo had just hit his third three of the period. DiVincenzo, who began his career in Milwaukee and was their starting shooting guard during their championship season until a season-ending injury in the playoffs, actually air-balled his first shot attempt of the night and had a rare layup attempt in transition pinned against the backboard by Giannis Antetokounmpo, but his threes, including two back-to-back, helped the Warriors trim the Bucks’ lead to 7 points before that timeout. You can see those five threes below:
Those five made threes felt good, but they had little effect on the Bucks’ dominance in the second quarter, which helped Milwaukee survive 3/11 shooting from deep. Shortly after that Milwaukee timeout, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson came back into the game, and on consecutive possessions, Pat Connaughton and Brook Lopez casually swatted consecutive Warriors’ shots in the way an older brother swats his younger brother’s shots on a 6-foot hoop. At the 5:13 mark, down 13 points, the Warriors took a timeout and on the next possession, Steph Curry made a midrange jumper. On the next trip down, Kevon Looney got fouled attacking the hoop on the short roll and went to the free-throw line. These were, somehow, the Warriors’ first free-throw attempts of the night.
At the 2:15 mark, a Klay Thompson three cut the Bucks’ lead to 8 points, and a Jordan Poole layup on the next possession got the Warriors within 6 points. But by the end of the half, the Bucks led by 12 points as the Warriors squandered various opportunities to stay within single digits by halftime. In the final minutes of the period, the Warriors committed three turnovers and made several risky defensive plays that did not go their way. But most importantly, Giannis Antetokounmpo gave the Warriors fits in transition, and his barrelling drives to the hoop got the Bucks three buckets in the final 60 seconds of the half.
3rd Q:
12:00 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green/Looney: 52-64, Bucks lead.
7:52 — Curry/Thompson/Lamb/Kuminga/D. Green: 58-77, Bucks lead.
4:18 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Lamb/Kuminga/J. Green: 67-87, Bucks lead.
2:48 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Lamb/Kuminga/J. Green: 71-90, Bucks lead.
In the first two minutes of the third quarter, the Bucks scored 7 points and the Warriors made mental mistakes that showed their exhaustion; Steph Curry failed to box out Pat Connaughton and gave up an easy put-back, Kevon Looney bit on a pump-fake by Giannis Antetokounmpo just inside of the three-point line, and a bad outlet pass by Draymond Green turned into an easy for Grayson Allen. After back-to-back fouls on drives to the hoop by Giannis, you could see the frustration start to bubble for the Warriors. — through four minutes, Klay Thompson missed a three, Steph Curry had only made one of his three shot attempts, and Jordan Poole got stuffed at the rim by Brook Lopez and barreled into the baseline seating. The Warriors probably got away with fouling Giannis on another drive in transition, but a traveling call gave the Warriors the ball after a timeout at the 7:52 mark with the Bucks leading by 19 points.
After that timeout, Steve Kerr subbed in Anthony Lamb and Jonathan Kuminga, and on the next possession, Jonathan Kuminga drew a foul driving to the hoop against Brook Lopez. The free throws that Kuminga shot marked the Warriors’ third and fourth free-throw attempts of the night. On the next possession down, Khris Middleton hit a three to put the Bucks up 21 and after a missed three by Anthony Lamb, Giannis barreled down the lane and drew a foul on Draymond Green despite seeming to create the majority of the contact on the drive that you can see below:
The Warriors challenged that call and somehow, Andre Iguodala picked up a technical foul — the Warriors’ fourth of the night! — and the Warriors’ challenge was unsuccessful despite Giannis’ obvious hooking of Draymond Green. Giannis’ 10th and 11th free throws of the night both went in and were followed up by a jumper by Jevon Carter to put the Bucks up 26. Steph Curry made a three, just his third of the night, with 5:51 left in the quarter and was fouled on a three-point shot on the next possession, and then things got weird and stilted — Draymond Green spent a few minutes pointing out to the refs a fan he wanted security to eject, Giannis got a 10-second violation on a free-throw attempt and then was T’d up for leaving the free-throw line, Mike Budenholzer was T’d up a few possessions later, and then Steph Curry spent a long time trying to get the refs to honor the continuation on a missed floater.
Curry did not get that continuation call, but he did make a floater on the ensuing possession, which cut the Bucks’ lead to a mere 16 points, and drew a charge on the other end. This, for a moment, felt like a possible turning point, but three straight fouls on the Warriors — all of which were correctly called — pushed the Bucks’ lead up to 20 points just as Steph Curry came out of the game for Jordan Poole. There were a few moments late in the quarter that felt like missed opportunities: Poole hit a three that cut the Bucks’ lead to 16 points and on back-to-back possessions, the Warriors forced after Bucks turnovers, but Jonathan Kuminga couldn’t finish a lob that was thrown a little too high, and Poole was called for a travel in transition.
4th Q:
12:00 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Thompson/Kuminga/J. Green: 77-95, Bucks lead.
9:52 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Thompson/Lamb/J. Green: 82-100, Bucks lead.
8:42 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Moody/Lamb/J. Green: 84-105, Bucks lead.
8:14 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Moody/PBJ/Lamb: 84-105, Bucks lead.
6:33 — DiVincenzo/Moody/PBJ/Lamb/Kuminga: 87-108, Bucks lead.
The fourth quarter got off to a precarious start when Jonathan Kuminga picked up a foul defending Giannis Antetokounmpo in the post and got called for a technical foul after protesting the call. Kuminga followed up his technical foul with an air-balled three, but he did score a layup in transition before getting subbed out at the 9:52 mark of the period. Another brief glimpse of hope — a near-certain steal by Donte DiVincenzo — turned into a three by Grayson Allen three, which effectively put the game away for good. JaMychal Green fouled out shortly after — he picked up six fouls in just 13 minutes, somehow — and Giannis hit a three to punctuate the Bucks’ inevitable victory.
The rest of the quarter was hardly notable, save for Patrick Baldwin Jr. getting garbage-time minutes in his hometown and making two of his three attempts from deep, and a brief and amusing shootout between the Bucks’ bench lineup and the Warriors’ youth lineup.