Milwaukee Bucks beat Golden State Warriors, continue to ‘build good manners’ vs. elite teams

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Bucks won their second statement Thursday night with a Golden State Warriors victory of 118-99, and it continued its trend of being at its best this season as it faced other likely championship seekers.

The Bucks beat the Warriors from the start and rose 39 points at halftime, the Golden State’s biggest halftime deficit since the franchise moved out of Philadelphia.

Over the past week, the Bucks have deftly beaten a pair of teams the Warriors and Brooklyn Nets – which they also won on the opening night in Milwaukee – that they could see on the road to try to play as the NBA champion.

“I don’t know why we play in very big games, but in the end, we just have to keep building good manners ahead,” said Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 30 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in 30 minutes. “Big games with a lot of excitement or even games that no one watches, no one cares about, we have to keep building good habits so we can be good in May and June.”

Milwaukee got coach Mike Budenholzer back on the sidelines after clearing health and safety protocols, but played without a guard, its best winger Jrue Holidaya, who missed his fourth game in a row. Yet the Bucks were able to curb Warriors star Stephen Curry with a repressive defense effort.

Curry scored 12 points in the game 4/11 (2 out of 6). He has shot less than 50% off the field in eight consecutive games, the longest series in his career, according to the ESPN Stats & Information survey. Golden State finished 3-14 on the field with three moves and seven points when the Bucks sent a double team to Curry.

“Milwaukee is a good team. They clearly have championship DNA now,” Curry said, “and they bring challenges to the pressure on the inside and out. We just got off to a terrible start where everything went wrong.”

The Warriors have dropped four of their last five matches, and Curry is stuck in one of the worst shots of his career, but they weren’t panicing about their recent slip.

“To be honest, I’m not so worried,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “I know we just got fired. We’re just in a difficult phase of our season. It happens to every team every year with quite a few exceptions. We’re a little deadlocked. We played a team that was ready and played great … And that’s why we’re a little unclear, and we you just have to get back on track. “

Golden State will face the Bulls in the second half of a consecutive match on a Friday night in Chicago. Klay Thompson, who scored 11 points on a 3/11 shot in 21 minutes, is not expected to play when the Warriors ease him back into the game due to injury after more than two years of absence.

The Bucks, meanwhile, have continued to fight against the league’s toughest rivals over Antetokounmpo’s dominant performance.

On Thursday, Antetokounmpo finished perfectly 9-9-9 in a restricted area with four dunk. He scored a goal for four different primary defenders (including 4-4 ​​against Andre Iguodala) and hit all seven of his full open shots. Although the Warriors forced him to enter, he routinely made the right reading – the Bucks scored 11/16 (30 points) on Antetokounmpo’s feeds, according to a study by ESPN Stats & Information.

“My idea is, I have something I’m going to accept. I’m not going to guess it,” Antetokounmpo said. “If someone is open, I’ll try to give him the ball. If I can’t, I’ll see what’s next. I’ll always try to be in the moment. But a confident mindset, an aggressive mindset, that’s the way I start the game.