The Milwaukee Bucks pulled out a comeback victory in Jason Kidd’s return to the bench on Tuesday night, but the coach wasn’t taking any credit, instead noting he was happy that he didn’t mess thing up.
The Bucks fell behind early after the Orlando Magic went 8-of-11 from three-point range in the first half, but Milwaukee endured and with a team effort they rallied for a 107-100 win. J-Kidd, who had been out for just over a month after undergoing hip surgery, stressed after the game that he’ll use the coming days to get to work helping his team guard the three-point line more effectively, but in the interim he was glad to at least be able report that he was feeling strong and healthy in his return to the sidelines.
“I felt great. I was happy to be back, and I was happy to help. Hopefully I didn’t mess the guys up tonight,” Jason said with a smile. “I’ll take the blame on the coverage on the threes, but health wise, I feel great.”
The Bucks got a strong all-around effort in the come-from-behind victory.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton led the way with 25 points apiece. Antetokounmpo neared a double-double with nine rebounds, and added two assists, two steals and a block. Middleton tacked on seven dimes and five boards to his 25 points. Greg Monroe wasn’t far behind with 21 points and 11 boards, while Jabari Parker turned in 15 points and seven boards. Jerryd Bayless was also clutch off the bench, coming through with 12 points and a couple of big-time buckets.
“We’re a team that doesn’t just have one guy who is going to score every night. We try to share the ball and play as a team and that gives us the advantage,” Coach Kidd said. “Khris has been playing at a very high level. Moose was big for us down the stretch on both ends. Michael set the tone defensively. Everybody had a hand in it.”
Behind exceptional long-range shooting, Orlando raced out to a nine-point lead. That hot start was chilled only by a pair of three-point counter strikes by Khris Middleton and Jerryd Bayless late in the first quarter. But in the second, the Magic kept firing. Midway through the period, Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo went back-to-back from deep to push the Orlando lead to a game-high 16.
After that series, Coach Kidd called a timeout, and his team regrouped. The Bucks responded with bucket after bucket down low. The high-percentage shots fueled a 21-8 run to close the quarter, which Middleton capped with a trey to slice the deficit to three, 56-53, at the break.
“We didn’t guard the three extremely well. We have to get better at that,” J-Kidd said. “We understood that they were going to shoot some threes tonight and they made a lot early on. I like the composure of the guys in the first half. They were down and they didn’t stop playing. We found a way to get down three going into halftime, then in the third quarter we kind of took control of the game.”
As Coach Kidd correctly recalled, the Bucks seized control in the third.
Orlando extended their lead to seven early in the period, but Jason’s crew mounted a 10-0 run to capture a three-point advantage shortly thereafter. The game teetered back and forth in the middle stages of the third, but a brilliant bucket from Antetokounmpo put Milwaukee ahead at the 3:16 mark. The Bucks held the lead from there and went into the fourth in front 82-78.
Milwaukee stretched their advantage to nine early in the fourth behind some strong play from Parker, but Orlando’s strategy soon forced Jason to pull his promising second-year star out of the lineup. The Magic went to small ball, and behind another couple of Fournier threes, they tied the game back at 91 with just under five minutes to play.
“They went small. When they did that, they made their run, so we went small to match up,” Coach Kidd explained. “Jabari was the victim, not because he was playing bad, but because we had to match up. Bayless made big plays for us down the stretch—he’s done it all season. But if it wasn’t for our defense getting stops and going the other way, we would never have been in that position.”
Jason turned to Bayless, and the veteran guard didn’t disappoint, canning a go-ahead three with two minutes to go. An electrifying putback dunk by Antetokounmpo made it a three-point game with 35.8 left on the clock, but a bucked by Oladipo pulled the Magic right back to within one. This forced Bayless—with an assist from Middleton—right back into action beyond the arc.
“Talking to Khris and Bayless, they ran a little play there at the end. Khris has the ball and not that Khris shot it, he made a play for a teammate and Bayless made the shot,” J-Kidd told the media. “It was nice to see everybody touching the ball and I thought everybody played well.”
That clutch bucket made it a four-point lead, forcing the Magic into foul mode. In the final 10 seconds, Middleton and Bayless went a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to close it out.
In his return to the helm, Jason came away happy with the way his team played, but he also identified some points for improvement going forward.
In addition to his team guarding the three, J-Kidd knows he needs more out of his bench. Outside of Bayless’s 12, the reserves had just four points. With Greivis Vasquez on the shelf and O.J. Mayo sidelined with a sore hamstring, Jason is looking for another player to step up from that second unit—and he believes that player could be rookie Rashad Vaughn, who played just six minutes on Tuesday night.
“I think we have to start getting Vaughn a couple more minutes in there. We have to find minutes because are starters are going to die if we keep playing them 35-40 minutes a night,” Jason said. “Our bench is going to have to step up—and our bench is going to have to get healthy. With Vasquez and O.J. out, that’s a big part of our bench. We need everybody on that bench to step up and help the starters.”
NEXT UP
After a day off, the Bucks (20-27) will hit the road to take on the Memphis Grizzlies (26-20) Thursday night to start a tough back-to-back that continues Friday back in Milwaukee against the Miami Heat (25-21).
Thursday’s game will be Milwaukee’s first meeting with the Grizz this season. The Bucks split two games with the tough Western Conference contender last season, with the home team winning each time.
Oddly enough, the Grizzlies are also coming off a win over the Magic with a similar final score. Memphis beat Orlando 108-102 in overtime on Monday. The Grizz have been hot, winning seven of their last nine and 10 of their last 14.
Tipoff between Milwaukee and Memphis from the FedEx Forum is set for 7 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
