Kevin Porter Jr. brought a much-needed boost to the skidding Milwaukee Bucks in his return to action, as they were able to take down the Brooklyn Nets, 116-99. The Bucks were only able to win one of their four meetings with the Nets last season. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.
Player Grades
Giannis Antetokounmpo
19 minutes, 29 points, eight rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 12/15 FG, 4/8 FT, +27
Giannis made his return to Fiserv for the first time in two weeks and put on a clinic. A dominant performance in quick order, allowing him to rest for the entire fourth quarter (and half of the third).
Ryan Rollins
31 minutes, 10 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, 4/10 FG, +30
After having to carry much of the ball-handling responsibilities without Giannis and KPJ in the lineup, Rollins got to play more freely; Doc Rivers even said as much in his postgame press conference.
Kevin Porter Jr.
25 minutes, 13 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 4/10 FG, 3/5 3PT, +10
Porter clearly had fresh legs from the jump, scoring the first basket for the Bucks, as well as flying all over the court. His rim pressure and athleticism were missed.
Myles Turner
22 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4/7 FG, +25
It was a relatively quiet game for Turner, who chipped in 10 points on good efficiency. While he didn’t block any shots, he was still reliable on the interior, altering shots at the rim.
23 minutes, 15 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 5/7 3PT, +29
This is about as good a game as you can ask for from AJ Green. He looked solid enough on defense and was near automatic from three-point range.
Kyle Kuzma
22 minutes, 11 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3/5 FG, 4/4 FT, +6
It was a solid day at the office for Kuz. Back on the bench, he slotted in perfectly as Giannis’ sub and played well on both ends.
Bobby Portis
21 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5/10 FG, 3/5 3PT, -4
Another typical Bobby Portis game. He was good enough on offense and shot three-ball well, but his lapses on Nets rookie Danny Wolf were maddening, to say the least. The lapses didn’t matter in the end, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from BP.
Jericho Sims
23 minutes, 2 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, -17
Doc talked pre-game about improving the team’s rebounding and about striking the balance between playing a guy like Sims and other players like Portis. I think that balance was struck well, as Sims grabbed eight boards, including three on the offensive glass—an area where the Bucks have struggled.
Doc Rivers
It’s hard to give Rivers much credit overall when the Nets were missing their top two scorers, but starting Green as a spacer next to Rollins and Porter was the right call. Green was a sniper from beyond the arc, and the new backcourt caused havoc for the Nets all night long.
Limited Minutes: Gary Harris
Garbage Time: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Amir Coffey, Cole Anthony, Andre Jackson Jr.
Inactive: Taurean Prince, Alex Antetokounmpo
Bonus Bucks Bits
Giannis has now scored over 21,000 career points with his 29 last night. The two-time MVP ranks 42nd all-time in scoring, 584 points behind Hal Greer, who has 21,586. He’s the sixth-youngest player to reach that milestone. The five ahead of him are Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant.
“I think when I was younger, a couple of years ago, (I treated it) like another day at the office, just do my job and go back home, but as you get older, you start appreciating those moments, you don’t take it for granted. Being a kid from Greece, where I grew up in a small neighborhood that not a lot of great things happened there or came out of there. To be able to be on this stage and 13 years later score 21,000 points, I’m very appreciative. I’ve had a great support system, from myself, from my family, god by my side. They’ve guided me through my whole journey. I have a lot of great chapters I want to keep on closing moving forward, so I just gotta stay locked in.”
Giannis gave an all-time quote when asked about what it meant to be on a list with the likes of Kobe and LeBron, and what his goals are down the line:
“Just to be in that list with them is incredible. Have I accomplished as much as them? I don’t think so. Do I have a lot of room to grow in years to keep on writing my own legacy? Yes. To get to the top of the scoring list, it’s not six, seven, eight years away. In my opinion, I think it’s four or five years away. I think when I’m going to be 35 years old, sitting in this chair when I have the discussion, when I’m at the top of the all-time scoring list, I would have thought that into existence and not just thought it, I believe that I’m going to do it, it’s something that I want to do. But hey, that’s too far away, four or five years from now, I might have four more kids, my wife might have left me. Who knows, man, four or five years prior to this, I didn’t have any kids, right? Now I’ve just got to worry about Monday.”
After playing four games this past week, the Bucks will get the day off today before traveling to Washington, D.C. to take on the Wizards. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Central on Monday and will be televised on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.