Brook Lopez scored 25 points and with that, the Milwaukee Bucks increase their season-opening winning streak to a franchise-record nine games with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the bench. This helps the team to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-94 on a Saturday night.
For the first time, Antetokounmpo didn’t seem to be a fit choice for the match. He was sat out for the first time this season. This was due to the medical condition that takes him out of the game. He also didn’t go for the warmup session that happned prior to the fame.
Lopez said regarding the match and also included playing without the two-time Most Valuable Player. “It’s kind of exciting,”
He further added, “Giannis gets a chance to rest, to refill his cup and we get a chance to get better and see what it’s like without him on the court and get better in that way.”
As Antetokounmpo was already not into the agme, Lopez led Milwaukee on a 10-of-16 shooting that included four of the Bucks’ 17 3-pointers. Out of these, three of which came in the opening quarter.
Budenholzer talk regarding the match and conveyed his thought by saying, “He’s had so many good games for us, but to shoot the 3-ball so well out of the gate, then really be such a force in the paint, he really delivered in a lot of different ways,” He further added, “He was phenomenal.”
Lopez added, “I think we all knew that we’d all have to chip in,” He said about the game, “You look across the board … everyone who (played) had an impact.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander connected on 7 of 16 shots which helped Oklahoma City to reach 18 points. Josh Giddey also scored 15 points and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl gained 12 points for his team.
Robinson-Earl said, “We were playing well offensively and defensively, but they started to chip away more on the defensive end than we did,”
The opening quarter tied at 34 points, and the Thunder scored 24 points before scoring four 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the third. Oklahoma City scored on the 7-2 run that cut Milwaukee’s lead to 95-85 with 10:22 to play.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault talk about the match and said, “We really had a hard time getting it going in the second quarter and into halftime, but I appreciate how hard our guys fought in the second half,” he further added, “We just kind of hung in there and stuck with it. ”
Lopez talked about it by saying, “It’s obviously fun,”
“I think what’s pretty cool for us is we just feel like we could still be so much better. We were talking after the game about how much better we could be, especially offensively.”