A month ago, Jason Kidd’s Milwaukee Bucks shut down the Oklahoma City Thunder, holding them under 80 points in a win. But in a rematch Tuesday night, they saw a different Oklahoma City team entirely.

Milwaukee Bucks v Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder recently welcomed stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant back to the lineup—and that duo gave the young Bucks plenty of trouble, combining for 51 points in a 114-101 win.

After his team’s defeat, Coach Kidd commented on the mistakes made by his young team, which has seen the defense that fueled them to a 10-7 start falter in recent weeks.

“We are a young team, so we are going to make mistakes, and make more mistakes the next game,” Jason said. “We just have to learn from them and correct them. We have to see them before they happen so that we can help one another.”

Coach Kidd has preached defensive effort all season long, but in each of the team’s last five losses, they have given up 107 points or more. Guard O.J. Mayo—who was a bright spot in OKC, tallying a team-high 18 points in 29 minutes—noted that the team’s execution hasn’t been on par with their preparation in recent games.

“Our coaches do a heck of a job preparing us, and we’ve got to take that to the game,” Mayo said. “We have to respond. They’re up all night watching film. They’re giving us everything the (opponent) loves to do, strengths and weaknesses. We have to bring that into the game.”

The modus operandi of the Thunder with Westbrook and Durant together is to get out and run in transition, and the Bucks couldn’t prevent that from happening at Chesapeake Energy Arena, where the home team held a 25-3 advantage on fast breaks.

Many of these opportunities came from missed Milwaukee shots. The Bucks shot just 40.5 percent on the night, and the Thunder took advantage of misses, using a 54-31 rebounding advantage to spark their transition game. On the other end, Milwaukee had trouble cleaning up the glass, which meant they weren’t able to get out in transition themselves.

“The biggest thing was rebounding,” Jason said. “The first half, they had nine offensive rebounds and we had 11 total. We knew going in we had to rebound the ball, and we didn’t do that. We took the ball out of the net most of the night. You aren’t going to beat anybody when you do that.”

That wasn’t the case early on, as the Bucks shot 52.2 percent in the first quarter and appeared primed to ruin Durant’s 2014-15 home court debut as they exited the first frame with a 31-26 lead.

Milwaukee Bucks v Oklahoma City Thunder

However, in the second quarter, Oklahoma City turned the tables on the Bucks. After the teams battled back and forth with a slew of ties and a pair of lead changes in the first seven minutes and change of the frame, a bucket by Reggie Jackson with 4:23 remaining in the half gave the Thunder a lead they carried the rest of the way.

OKC finished the half on a 14-5 run to hold a nine-point, 61-52 halftime lead. Mayo buoyed the Bucks in the second with 12 points, including a 6-of-6 mark from the charity stripe, but Milwaukee was undone by five turnovers in the frame, which led directly to eight points for Oklahoma City. The Thunder also tallied 10 points in transition during the pivotal period.

Milwaukee Bucks v Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City kept the deficit at double digits most of the second half, but the Bucks briefly had a run in the third, sparked by Giannis Antetokounmpo—who finished second to Mayo with 17 points. Antetokounmpo chipped in eight points, five boards and two blocks in the third. However, his work was only enough to keep the deficit at nine, 87-78.

The Bucks tried to rally early in the fourth, but the Thunder simply wouldn’t allow it. OKC had seven players in the scoring column in the final frame, including six points by Durant and eight by Reggie Jackson. The Thunder shot nearly 60 percent in the final frame, while the Bucks connected on just 33.3 percent of their attempts.

That frame was indicative of the game overall, as OKC shot 50 percent en route to victory.

“We missed a lot of shots we normally make, and that’s basketball,” J-Kidd said. “But we can’t carry it over to the defensive end. When we did that to start the half, we miss a shot and they come down and dunk. We had just talked about what we had to do and we didn’t follow through. We looked at it on tape at halftime and we made the same mistake. But we’re a young team and you’ve got to teach and correct.”

NEXT UP

Coach Kidd will have several days to teach and help his team correct as the Bucks (10-11) aren’t back in action until Saturday night when they host the Los Angeles Clippers (15-5) at BMO Harris Bradley Center.

The Clippers started the season just 5-4, but have won 11 of their last 12 games, including an nine-game win streak.

LA is currently on a cross country road trip, which they kicked off on Wednesday night with a close 103-96 victory over the Packers in Indiana. The Doc Rivers-coached Clips. head east to Washington D.C. to take on the red-hot Wizards on Friday night before heading to Milwaukee to play the Bucks on the tail-end of a back-to-back.

Tip off from the BMO Harris Bradley Center is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Wisconsin.

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