LAS VEGAS — Following a sloppy stretch of play from both teams, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers took a timeout with 6 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in his team’s NBA Cup semifinal matchup against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.
Out of the timeout, Andre Jackson Jr. did his best to deny the ball from Trae Young, but the Hawks star point guard managed to shake free and bring it up the floor. Jackson recovered and forced Young to pass it to Jalen Johnson. Stuck on the left side of the floor with the shot clock running down, Johnson attempted to take Giannis Antetokounmpo baseline off the dribble. As Johnson spun back to the middle of the floor, Antetokounmpo poked away his dribble and the ball slowly started to roll toward the sideline.
Antetokounmpo had done his job and denied Johnson’s drive, but that wasn’t enough for the Bucks’ two-time league MVP. Antetokounmpo dove to corral the ball before it went out of bounds. As Antetokounmpo slid, Johnson fell on top of him and the officials whistled the Hawks forward for a foul.
That level of effort from the team’s best and most accomplished player set the example the Bucks needed to close out the final seven minutes and secure a 110-102 win over the Hawks to advance to Tuesday’s NBA Cup final.
“Him going that hard makes me want to go even harder,” Jackson told The Athletic after the game. “When that happened, it was right in front of me. He got a piece of the ball and he dove and I felt like I was supposed to dive for it. It just made me play with a little more urgency. … It’s just like you gotta give to get.”
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Antetokounmpo was spectacular and put up a monster stat line — 32 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, four blocks — on Saturday, but that diving steal was the type of play Rivers believes his players need to make on a regular basis for the Bucks to get to where they want to go this season.
In fact, Rivers enjoyed it so much that he wanted his players to take a moment to appreciate it after the game.
“Winning plays,” Rivers said. “We never show film after a game, and we showed the winning plays today.
“It takes what it takes. I wish you could script what it takes. You don’t know it until the game starts, until the end. … You can’t script any of that stuff before the game, but you just got to keep teaching that it just takes what it takes every night. Tonight was a great example of that.”
After a horrid start to the season, the Bucks have won 12 of their last 15 games. Only five of those 12 wins, however, have been by double digits. For the most part, the Bucks have played tight games over the last month and just found a way to win at the end. Whether it means hitting big shots late or making big defensive stops, the Bucks have made enough winning plays, as Rivers describes them, to come away with victories. Saturday’s game was no different.
Four minutes after his steal, Antetokounmpo made another big defensive play as he swatted Clint Capela at the rim as Capela tried to throw down an alley-oop from Young.
“I mean, Trae Young threw that thing pretty high, so they just went and tracked it down,” forward Taurean Prince said. “But you can’t teach that type of stuff. That may be the play that switched the game and the energy. Winning plays.”
The block was absolutely absurd, but after swatting Deandre Ayton on an alley-oop dunk attempt in Game 4 of the 2021 NBA Finals, that type of block has become a trademark of sorts for Antetokounmpo.
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“We don’t want to normalize how special that is,” center Brook Lopez said. “I’m still taken aback every single time. And I’ve got the best seat in the house. I’m still a spectator and a fan in those moments. It’s so much fun.”
Down the stretch, the Bucks kept making the defensive plays they needed to put themselves in position to win. After giving up 34 points in the third quarter, the Bucks allowed just 19 points in the fourth and the Hawks put up only 6 points in the final four and a half minutes. The other end of the floor was not quite as sharp, though.
In his fourth game back on the floor after offseason surgeries on both ankles kept him on the sideline for the first 21 games of the season, Khris Middleton had a rough night, going just 2 of 7 from the field for 6 points in 22 minutes. His struggles late in the game kept the Bucks from closing the game out earlier. In the final six minutes, Middleton went 0-of-2 from the field and committed three turnovers, including a giveaway on a sideline inbounds play with 55.6 seconds left and a 5-point lead, which gave the Hawks a chance to make it a one-possession game.
The Hawks did not take advantage and Damian Lillard, who put up 25 points, six rebounds and seven assists, made his winning play on the next possession with a clutch floater late in the shot clock to give the Bucks a 7-point lead and secure a win.
“We were able to get the ball in, gave it to Dame and Dame did his thing,” Antetokounmpo said. “He loves to have the ball down the stretch, get to his spot and put games away.”
With the win, the Bucks have gone one step further in the NBA Cup than they did last season and qualified for the NBA Cup final Tuesday. At times, the Bucks struggled to contain Young (35 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists) as the Hawks point guard regularly got to the free-throw line. And their offense was not crisp enough down the stretch as they continue to integrate Middleton into the fold. But they found their way through it with important plays at the right time and grabbed another win.
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“It’s just winning plays,” Antetokounmpo said. “Just got to keep on doing things to help your team win. Sometimes it’s going to be a block, sometimes it’s going to be a shot, sometimes it’s going to be a pass. It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is just being able to be selfless, sacrifice your body, your own ambitions, goals, to help your team win.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s an NBA Cup game, doesn’t matter if it’s a regular-season game, doesn’t matter if it’s an NBA Finals game. To win games, put yourself in a position to be successful, you got to have plays like that.”
And after a slow start, winning is all that matters for the Bucks.
(Photo: Ian Maule / Associated Press)
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