An injury-riddled Milwaukee Bucks squad suffered a 127-113 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers today, extending their streak of not-so-close losses. The Clips were led by Bennedict Mathurin’s 28 points, while the Bucks got hot nights from Gary Trent Jr. (36 points) and Taurean Prince (18 points). Los Angeles completed their 2-0 season series sweep over Milwaukee with this win.
The Clippers struck first in this one as John Collins knocked down a mid-range fader a minute in. Jericho Sims got things jumping for the Bucks with back-to-back finishes at the rim over Brook Lopez. Milwaukee’s B-Team was surprisingly spry out of the gate, moving the rock quickly and generating some open looks. Gary Trent Jr. was a beneficiary of the ball movement, drilling three triples and a floater in quick succession. He had 11 of Milwaukee’s first 15 points. Some confounding turnovers from the home team helped the Clips keep up, and the score at the end of the opening stanza was 29-25, Los Angeles.
The Bucks were finding most of their offensive success behind the arc in the early going. Cormac Ryan and Taurean Prince each splashed a three from the right corner to get the second quarter started. They weren’t letting the Clippers run away with things, but more turnovers and some forced shots were keeping them from completing a comeback. The offense started to stagnate for Milwaukee, and LA built their first double-digit lead of the game with 3:57 left in the first half. The advantage for the visitors spiked to 57-46 by intermission. Kawhi Leonard, the silent assassin, scored 15 points in the half.
Los Angeles decided to stop playing with their food after the break. They went on an 8-3 run in the first two minutes of the second half, finding gaps in Milwaukee’s disorganized defense. The lead for the away team was approaching 20, but then the Bucks went on a quick 6-0 burst that forced Tyronn Lue to take a timeout with 7:24 left in the third. Prince hit a couple more threes, trying to help keep the Bucks in it. The Clippers regained control from there, though, and held a 96-74 edge heading into the fourth.
The Bucks were actually able to make what was trending toward being a major blowout into something more respectable in the final frame. Behind a flurry of buckets from Gary Trent Jr., they managed to cut the deficit to just 11 with under three minutes remaining. The sparse assembly of fans in Fiserv Forum got loud for a stretch late, especially when Cormac Ryan banged a top-of-the-key triple inside the 3:00 mark. Ultimately, though, LA closed it out.
Milwaukee coughed up 22 turnovers and allowed LA to turn those errors into 33 points. Given there wasn’t a point guard in the lineup for the Bucks, they deserve some slack, but their mistakes and inability to recover from them were the difference, regardless.