Playing their third game against one of the NBA’s leading title contenders, the Milwaukee Bucks were within a whisker of knocking off the Dallas Mavericks.

However, Jason Kidd’s squad fell victim to fate. Mavericks guard Monta Ellis knocked down an incredible turnaround fadeaway jumper at the buzzer to send his squad back to Dallas with a 107-105 victory.

Dallas Mavericks v Milwaukee Bucks

The crowd at the BMO Harris Bradley Center was pleading for a travel call, but the whistle never sounded. However, Coach Kidd wasn’t one of those clamoring for the call, instead crediting Ellis for hitting the shot.

“It was a tough shot—he made it. That’s how basketball goes,” Jason said. “Walk or not a walk, they counted the basket. It didn’t come down to just that last shot. We made some mistakes leading up to that. I thought Juice (O.J. Mayo) played some great defense. (Ellis) made a tough shot. They’re pros.”

On that final play, Milwaukee guard O.J. Mayo was blanketing Ellis as he drove into the teeth of the defense. He even recovered incredibly well to Ellis’ turnaround, but the Dallas guard still sunk the improbable shot.

Brandon Knight led the way for the Bucks, stuffing the stat sheet with 25 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. His play down the stretch was huge; Knight scored six points in the last minute, including a huge 18-foot step-back jumper that tied the game at 105.

The Bucks point man was on his game from the tip, splashing 11 points and dishing out three assists in the first quarter. His efforts pushed Milwaukee out to a 31-29 lead after one.

Dallas Mavericks v Milwaukee Bucks

Knight took a backseat in the second, as Mayo stepped forward, scoring six points and sending out four assists. He helped the second unit gain its footing, particularly Khris Middleton.

Two of Mayo’s four dimes went to the reserve forward, who had nine points off the bench in the second. The Bucks shot 72.2 percent in the second to tack five more points onto their lead and take a 64-57 advantage to the second half.

However, in the second half, J-Kidd’s former coach, Rick Carlisle, made a move that put his team right back in it. After the Mavs went zone, the Bucks offense slowed, and they managed just 14 points in the third quarter, shooting 3-of-12 in the process.

Coach Kidd predicted in his postgame presser after his team’s Tuesday night loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers that the Mavs might go zone at some point Wednesday night—particularly since the Bucks were without one of their top outside shooters off the bench, Ersan Ilyasova, who suffered a nasal fracture during that contest.

“The vets understood the zone a little bit better than the younger guys,” J-Kidd said of Dallas going to the zone. “It’s something that we’ve got to work on because we’re going to see it a lot. Not just Dallas but (Tuesday) we saw it in Cleveland and it got them back in the game. It’s something we’ve got to address.”

The switch sent Dallas to the final period with an 80-78 lead. After the third-quarter lull, Jason made a change of his own. To combat the Dallas defensive switch, he sent in a group of zone-busting reserves. The second unit combined for 18 points in the fourth, including two Jared Dudley threes.

Coach Kidd praised his backup unit for the way they played and the way they worked to counter Dallas’s strategic move.

“I thought our bench gave us a spark there—Khris, (Jerryd) Bayless and even Kendall (Marshall)—they gave us a spark,” J-Kidd said. “Especially when that first group was struggling a little bit with the zone. We got those guys in there and that got them out of the zone. I thought they were great tonight.”

Dallas Mavericks v Milwaukee Bucks

All five reserves had six or more points. Kendall Marshall tallied six; Jerryd Bayless, Zaza Pachulia and Dudley each had eight, while Middleton paced the second unit with 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

Dudley hit back-to-back threes to give the Bucks an 86-82 lead and force a Mavs timeout at the 9:11 mark. The Bucks held onto that lead, and Larry Sanders flushed home a monstrous one-handed dunk at the 4:22 mark to make it 98-90, Milwaukee. Dallas called another timeout to quell the momentum, and all appeared to be going the way of the home team.

However, the veteran Mavs squad marched its way back. After that timeout, Dallas went on a 12-1 run. Knight ended the rally with a big mid-range jumper with 59 seconds to go, and then hit two free throws to give the Bucks back the lead, 103-102.

Dallas Mavericks v Milwaukee Bucks

An Ellis jumper and a Richard Jefferson free throw put the Mavs back ahead, 105-103, where Knight was forced to hit another big jumper to tie the game. Dallas had just eight seconds with which to work on its final play, but Ellis made the most of it and sunk the wild game-winner.

It was a painful defeat for Milwaukee, but against a veteran squad, Jason chalked it up as a lesson learned for his young team.

“They’ve got to go through it, this is the first time they’ve been in this position—playing good teams, being able to close the door, understanding each possession means something,” Coach said. “This is a great lesson for us to learn something and get better at.”

NEXT UP

The Bucks will be on one-day rest as they prepare to host the Miami Heat (9-9) on Friday night. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have been scoring really well for Miami, each putting in around 21 points per game. Bosh leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 8.9 boards a game, while Wade dishes out 5.7 assists per game.

If Milwaukee can force another player on the Heat to beat them while maintaining Bosh or Wade the Bucks will be back above .500.

Tip off scheduled for 8:30PM ET at BMO Harris Bradley Center.

RELATED ARTICLES