PHOENIX – The Milwaukee Bucks dropped to 2-2 on their season-long five-game road trip with a 108-106 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the PHX Arena on Monday night. They finish the 10-day long road trip in Denver on Wednesday.
The Bucks (40-31) also fell two games behind the Indiana Pacers (42-29) for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, which is the last position that can have homecourt in the playoffs. The Pacers beat Minnesota on Monday.
More: Box score | Bucks schedule | Playoff look
The Suns (35-37) have won four in a row and five of their last six.
Bucks don’t execute down stretch
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points in nearly 38 minutes while Lopez had 23 points in 42 minutes, and down two points, Antetokounmpo defended Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on a single possession to force a missed Booker shot, which led to a Kyle Kuzma four-point play and a 105-103 lead with 1:22 to go.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
But, Durant created space on Kuzma to knock down a go-ahead three-pointer with 26.2 seconds left. The Bucks did not call timeout and the Bucks got the ball down low to Lopez, who drew a foul on Durant with 6.2 seconds left. Lopez made just one of two free throws to tie the game 107-107, setting up a game-winning situation for Phoenix.
Suns coach Mike Budenholzer called timeout, and Antetokounmpo guarded Durant, and the two future Hall of Famers traded shoulder bumps and elbow thrusts until Antetokounmpo used up the Bucks’ lone foul to give with 5.7 seconds remaining. Budenholzer took his final timeout, setting up another tense, game-clinching situation.
Antetokounmpo denied Durant, but Devin Booker got the inbound and was able to shake free from a screen at about 20 feet and knocked down the jumper with 1.7 seconds left to put the Suns up 108-106.
Gary Trent Jr: “We had a certain communication of what we were gonna do, they went out there, executed a certain play and I tried to get out to him and they made the shot. There was different things that we talked about how we were gonna guard if screens came together and where we were going to go about and certain things like that, but again, I tried to go around and he went around and hit a shot.”
Lopez: “It was a great screen. I saw; we had a bit of a miscommunication down under the basket. So I tried to help a little bit, try to give some space, but the big set a great screen, got ‘Book’ open and gave him a lot of room, a lot of separation to play with.”
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers used his final timeout to set up his team’s final chance, but Antetokounmpo and AJ Green collided with one another as they cut to inbounder Kyle Kuzma.
After screening for Lopez, it appeared Green didn’t set a final screen for Antetokounmpo, leading to the collision. Kuzma had to kick it to Lopez, who missed a fall away 18-footer.
Lopez: “We didn’t execute it to the best. I think it was our first time doing it, but the intention was there and ‘Kuz’ made a great pass to me where I was able to just line it up. It felt like a good look. That was one of our options there and it felt great to me.”
Antetokounmpo: “I think Brook did a great job recognizing that none of us was open and he flashed and tried to make something happen. That was a good shot, good look by Brook. A tough bounce. You take that shot any day.”
Rivers: “I think we executed pretty well. That one wasn’t, but we’ve been pretty good, so I’m not going to overdo the one play, honestly. That wasn’t the reason we lost the game.”
Doc Rivers, Brook Lopez baffled by non-calls
In a tight game that came down the final seconds, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers found himself in his postgame press conference wondering why certain calls were or weren’t made in the loss to Phoenix.
The first one that stood out came with 5:56 to go when it looked like Brook Lopez drew a foul on Phoenix center Nick Richards as he drove in for a layup. Lopez made the basket and expected to be headed to the free throw line to potentially tie the game, 95-95.
“I mean, it was obviously weird,” Lopez said. “It’s tough ’cause you see a lot of those continuations go a certain way, go one way pretty much consistently all game, all season and then in a big moment like that, it was absolutely odd. It was weird.”
It was strange because Suns guard Devin Booker was whistled for an off-ball foul on Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. Rivers was so incensed he made his way out onto the court in objection at the time. Instead the Bucks missed a three-pointer coming out of the stoppage in play and the Suns made a three going the other way to go up 98-92.
“The biggest play of the game was; that was a three-point play. That was a three-point play,” Rivers said. “And how that wasn’t is beyond my imagination. That’s a six-point swing.”
That then allowed Rivers to vent on two other situations.
“I had to burn two timeouts on calls that you should have made and now I’m left with one timeout for the game,” he continued. “Like I think there should be a rule, if I get two right, I should get a timeout and an extra challenge. But clearly the ball went off of them both times and I had to use a challenge for both of them. And unfortunately, those are the times with the time that the timeouts were charged to me, so I burned two timeouts being right and I don’t think that was what the rules were made (for). But we gotta figure that one out.”
When asked if it is frustrating to have the game taken out of his hands (in terms of timeouts and challenges) and his players.
“It’s just frustrating because I thought both teams played hard, but those are the types of plays that can kill you,” Rivers said. “The ‘my faults,’ that doesn’t do anything. Ryan (Rollins) gets a touch foul and then we call no foul and then Ryan has four fouls. There’s just so many little things like that during the game where I thought really affected the game.”
5 numbers
- 4: Consecutive offensive rebounds by the Suns in a 13-second span in the third quarter, despite the Bucks having 7-foot, 1-inch Brook Lopez, 7-0 Giannis Antetokounmpo and 6-10 Kyle Kuzma on the court. The run stopped when 6-4 guard Ryan Rollins spun Kevin Durant to the floor for a foul. That said, the Bucks did not allow a point to the Suns in that stretch to maintain a 63-61 lead.
- 41: Minutes for Brook Lopez, matching a season-high he set in Los Angeles in a loss to the Clippers on Jan. 25. That was also during a stretch when Bobby Portis Jr. was unavailable.
- 8-3: Bucks record without Damian Lillard. Lillard has played 58 regular-season games to date as well as the NBA Cup final – which counts toward his total games played. So, Lillard must play 6 of the last 11 games to quality for postseason awards consideration, such as all-NBA teams.
- 13-12: Bucks record vs. teams in the Western Conference.
- 16-19: Bucks record on the road, but they are 7-6 since the start of February. They have not been .500 away from Fiserv Forum this season since starting the year 1-1 on Oct. 27. They were 18-22 on the road last season. From 2018-23 they were one of the best teams on the road in the NBA, compiling a 123-74 (62.4%) record away from Milwaukee.
Damian Lillard has imaging done on strained calf
All-star point guard Damian Lillard missed his third straight game with a calf injury the team has now clarified as a strain. The Bucks have insisted that it’s a day-to-day issue for the 34-year-old, but he has been a quick scratch the last couple of games and was not with the team in Sacramento. He rejoined the team in Phoenix.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has said Lillard has gotten imaging a couple times on his calf, but when asked if there was a tear in the muscle Rivers said, “I don’t yet. We’ll know more.”
Rivers acknowledged there hasn’t been progress, however.
“No, obviously ’cause he’s not playing,” the coach said. “So, we’re just going to keep monitoring it and hopefully we’ll get more information about it today. I know he saw some people so we’re checking everything out.”
Lillard missed three games over 10 days in December with a strain in his right calf. That stretch coincided with a respiratory illness that sidelined him for a game.
He suffered two strains to that calf (including the soleus muscle, specifically) early in the 2022 season while he was with Portland, which forced him to miss a total of 10 games over a total of three weeks.
Bucks face Mike Budenholzer for first time
Mike Budenholzer is in his first season coaching the Suns, and it is his first job since the Bucks fired him in 2023. Budenholzer coached the Bucks for five seasons from 2018-23 and had a .693 regular season winning percentage (271-120) and guided the team to the 2021 NBA championship.
“That’s my guy, man,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said after the game. “That’s my guy. We were able to catch up, talk a little bit about life. Cry a little bit. Hug. That’s my guy. But I wanted to beat him today. I wanted to beat him bad. But he got me.”
Budenholzer had the third-most wins in franchise history for a coach and the best regular-season winning percentage for a coach that completed at least one season.
The Bucks were 39-26 (.600) in the playoffs under Budenholzer, but he was dismissed after a first-round playoff exit vs. Miami.
“It’s interesting – I hadn’t really thought about it just ’cause we had a year where wasn’t our coach but he wasn’t coaching, either,” said Bucks wing Pat Connaughton, who signed with the Bucks in Budenholzer’s first season. “So we went through a calendar year in the NBA without really having to see him on the other side. Now seeing him on the other side will be a little bit different. I’ve got a great relationship with coach Bud. I golfed with him this summer, I stay in touch with him, so I think it’ll be a little bit funky seeing him on the other sideline, but it being at the end of the season, me staying in touch with him, I’m not sure I’ll think a ton about it. But it’ll probably bring back some memories, bring back some of the all the stuff we accomplished over the five years. I’m excited to see him.”
Phoenix media relations did not allow any Milwaukee-based reporters to ask Budenholzer a question in his pregame session, but he was asked about his recollections with his team by the Suns sideline reporter.
“I mean, it was a great five years,” he said. “But I think right now before the game I’d rather just focus on Phoenix, focus on us, get ready to do our job tonight and our players don’t care and I probably shouldn’t either.”
He was asked by the Arizona Republic about the schedule quirk where his first matchup against the Bucks was on March 24 and his return to Fiserv Forum would be a week later on April 1.
“I think for it to take this long to get to this game, we’re here in late March and first time playing anybody in the league, so a little bit of quirkiness and unusual but every NBA schedule has a little bit of that,” he said.
More: Purchase your commemorative 2021 championship book
Jericho Sims rejoins Bucks after surgery
The Bucks welcomed center Jericho Sims back to the team Monday as the 26-year-old center rejoined the squad after undergoing surgery on his right thumb March 17.
Sims originally tore the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right thumb against Indiana on March 15 and played through the injury on March 16 before deciding to have surgery. He suffered the same injury to his left thumb two years ago in summer league while playing for the Knicks.
“It would be a rare instance if it were to get worse from playing,” Sims said at the team’s shootaround Monday morning, his right thumb and hand in a cast. “Just not getting the surgery altogether is where the concern comes from and waiting. You’re in a certain time frame where that ligament, it retracts and after a certain period of time it’s not able to be worked on.”
Sims was acquired by the Bucks at the trade deadline in the four-team deal that also brought Kyle Kuzma to Milwaukee and sent Khris Middleton to Washington. Sims played in 14 games for the Bucks, averaging 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 points in 15 minutes per game.
“I feel like in my time that I was out there I made a pretty decent impact on the game and it made it easier for me to sit out and kind of recollect myself so I can be back stronger,” he said.
Sims is expected to be back in time for the playoffs in mid-April.
“I greatly considered not getting it but what I was hearing was the results would be much better if I were to get it right now, just get the whole surgery and procedure over with and then I’ll be ready to go when the postseason hits,” Sims said.
“The comfort comes in that it’s not my leg or a lower body injury and I’ve dealt with it before. I know the process of kind of how long I’ll be out and the recovery. It made the decision easier to make.”
Is Giannis playing?
Yes. The Bucks star began the day probable to play his 18th straight game since the all-star break as he manages soreness in his right knee. He has dealt with that since training camp and has never missed a game due to that issue.
What time is the Bucks game?
The game is set for a 9 p.m. CT tip off.
What channel is the Bucks game on?
The game will be broadcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin with Lisa Byington returning from NCAA Tournament duties to resume the play-by-play call. She will be joined by Marques Johnson and Melanie Ricks.
Bucks injury report
Bucks starters
- Guards: Ryan Rollins, Taurean Prince
- Forwards: Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Center: Brook Lopez
Bucks vs. Suns odds, over/under
Phoenix is a 2.5-point favorite over Milwaukee, and the over/under is 223.5 points per Bet MGM.
