The Washington Wizards came in with a defensive plan to wall off the paint and unleash Bilal Coulibaly (and help) on Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it worked _just_ well enough for the Wizards to escape with a 129-126 victory.
For awhile, the game seemed to be following a familiar pattern. The Bucks opened a 10-point lead in the first quarter, but the Wizards kept in contact the rest of the half — keeping the deficit to single digits. In the third quarter, Milwaukee built a 16-point advantage midway through the period, which is about the point when the game avalanches on the Wizards and the lead balloons to 30.
Instead, Washington battled back, scrapped the lead down to three by the end of the third, and went on to earn their third win of the season in the fourth.
The Wizards held the lead only briefly against the Bucks — 1-0 in the opening minute, and then just long enough in the fourth to win.
Washington’s defensive plan to control the space around the rim worked. They outscored Milwaukee 60-34 in the paint — a somewhat shocking event considering the opposing team included Antetokounmpo, who sometimes scores 34 in the paint by himself. The tradeoff was abundant open threes, which the Bucks hit at a 55.3% clip. For the game, Milwaukee’s effective field goal percentage was 67.3% to Washington’s 58.3%.
The Wizards won despite being outshot from the floor and the free throw line because the Bucks couldn’t keep Marvin Bagley III (who started at center in place of the injured Alex Sarr) and Justin Champagnie off the offensive glass. The two combined for 13 of Washington’s 15 offensive boards, and they were critical to the team’s victory.
Washington’s offense was sparked by veteran CJ McCollum (28 efficient points), as well as Cam Whitmore off the bench (17 points in 19 minutes), and Tristan Vukcevich (16 points on 7 field goal attempts).
While the Wizards defense was nowhere close to good, led by some stellar work by Coulibaly, they harassed Antetokounmpo into one of his worst games of the season — 26 points on just 17 shots, but also 5 turnovers and 6 fouls, including two on the offensive end.
The game fittingly closed with a stepback dagger three from McCollum followed by a Coulibaly pick-six steal and dunk on a pass intended for Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak tried to chase him down only to commit his final foul of the game attempting to contest the slam.
_Stats coming in a few minutes._
See More:
* [Washington Wizards Recaps](/washington-wizards-recaps)
* [Washington Wizards Statistical Analysis](/washington-wizards-statistical-analysis)