Milwaukee Bucks revive playoffs hopes after routing Detroit Pistons 113-97: NBA Recap
Milwaukee Bucks are just not ready to go down, not yet.
After losing two straight games, including a crucial home loss to the New York Knicks, Bucks fought like if their life depended on it in Friday night’s game. They had their inspiration from Drew Gooden.
The centre powered his team with 26 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds and Milwaukee pulled away from Detroit Pistons in 3rd quarter to bank a 113-97 victory at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
With a 29-30 record Milwaukee are currently at the 9th spot in the Eastern Conference. They are 2 games short from Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks for the final two playoff spots.
Apart of Gooden 4 other players scored in double figures. Brandon Jennings recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists while guard Monta Ellis poured in 18 points to go with 7 assists.
Carlos Delfino netted 16 points he knew that his team needed the win to make it into the post season.
"It's not like a playoff game. It's like a final. We've got to win. In the playoffs, you can maybe lose one or two games. If we lose, we're done because we're running from behind and we need every single win. So, we need to take
care of business every game."
Forward Ersan Ilyasova also had 14 points. Pistons couldn’t put up a resilient show, surrendering the season series 3-1. Rookie Brandon Knight marshalled them with 25 points and 8 assists. It was his second consecutive night with
more than 20 points. Ben Gordon collected 24 coming off the bench and Greg Monroe chipped in with a double-double of 16 points and 10 boards.
Rodney Stuckey and forward Tayshaun Prince struggled on the night, scoring 7 and 4 points respectively, and were on the bench in the 4th frame.
The opening frame remained closely contested as with 04:21 in hand the scores were tied at 19 each. Bucks blasted their way out of the stalemate with an 8-nothing burst to claim a 27-19 advantage and then capped off the segment
at 30-25.
Milwaukee opened the 2nd stanza with 6 unanswered points and claimed a double digit 36-25 lead. Pistons clawed that off with a 10-nothing run of their own and reduced the gap to 1 point 36-35 mid way into the frame.
The game remained neck to neck afterwards and late into the frame Bucks were having a slender 48-47 lead. They came up with 4 freebies in a row to conclude the 1st half at 52-47.
The Bucks erupted in the third quarter. They started off with a huge 26-13 spurt for a 78-60 lead and entered the last 12 minutes with an 85-73 advantage.
Milwaukee kept on punishing the Pistons in the fourth and with 4:15 to go in the game, they were up by 97-85, augmenting it to 113-97 by the end of decisive frame.
Tags: