San Antonio Spurs vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Recap and Notes

The San Antonio Spurs came up short and lost a 135-129 in a thrilling game in Milwaukee last night. This was a game that could have gone either way.

The Spurs had solid performances across the board but it just wasn’t enough to overcome the Bucks. Coming off of a nice win on Friday, the San Antonio Spurs gave it their all but came up short against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

The Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Bucks were simply too much for the Spurs to handle. DeMar DeRozan led the Spurs in scoring with 34.

After a close win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, the Spurs put together another very solid performance. They came out hot in the first quarter as Davis Bertans had a moments where he simply could not miss. He was on fire In the first quarter and went 3-for-3 from deep and ended the quarter with 11 points on four shots.

DeRozan continues to amaze in his first season with the Spurs. He was the engine that carried the team in this matchup.

Late in the fourth quarter when it looked like the Bucks were finally going to pull away, DeRozan silenced the raucous Fiserv Forum crowd time after time. No possession sucked the energy out of the home crowd quite like this poster-worthy dunk.

THROW IT DOWN DEMAR pic.twitter.com/NZpTA7jnz5

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) November 25, 2018

Bryn Forbes and LaMarcus Aldridge also did their part to keep the Spurs in the game. The pair contributed 18  and 15 points respectively. Aldridge even dialed back the clock to deliver this monster dunk.

LA COMING THROUGH ? https://t.co/SGSe78uY8D

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) November 25, 2018

Aldridge had this to say after the game: “I’m more of a rhythm guy. The more I touch it, the better I am going to be.”

That may be true, but the way the Bucks were playing it might not have mattered. A counterpoint to that is that Aldridge only got two shots in the fourth quarter. In a close game on the road, you need to trust your star players. Aldridge does need the ball more down the stretch if San Antonio wants to win this kind of game.

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In the end, it would not be enough as the Spurs simply could not keep up with the Bucks. While Giannis did deliver another monster stat line (34 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists) it felt like the Spurs did as good of a job as any team can of keeping him contained.

That being said, it’s almost impossible to beat any team on a night where four players are scoring 20+ points. Malcolm Brogdon, Khris Middleton, and Eric Bledsoe rounded out the Bucks attack. When those three are playing as well as they did tonight this Milwaukee Bucks team is one of the best in the league.

The San Antonio Spurs should walk away from this loss with their heads held high. It was a great game against a strong team and it was on the second night of a back to back. This gritty performance, combined with a solid win over the Indian pacers on Friday night, has helped the Spurs get back on track.

The win-loss column will not show how good the Spurs looked last night. There were some miscues and mistakes but as a whole, the team looked much better than they have over the past few games.

The Spurs now get some much-needed rest. They have a little bit of time off before they play the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Monday night.