Milwaukee Bucks thrash the Portland Trail Blazers 116-94: Move closer to a playoff spot - NBA Recap
On Saturday night, the Milwaukee Bucks played host to the Portland Trail Blazers at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI.
The Bucks were given a telling off by their head coach Scott Skiles after their last game in which they had barely gotten past the team which holds the league`s worst record, Charlotte Bobcats. The verbal barrage did seem to work
but its effect showed only in the second half as they outscored the Blazers 62-31 to win this one 116-94. Milwaukee have now won 13 out of their last 17 games.
Beno Udrih had a season high of 21 points and Brandon Jennings also scored 21 points to lead the scoring for the Bucks. Ersan Ilyasova managed 20 points and 12 rebounds while Monta Ellis scored 17 points. Larry Sanders also had
a hot hand for Milwaukee as he scored 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
LaMarcus Aldridge was the leading scorer for the Blazers with 21 points; Wesley Matthews contributed 14 points while three other players were scoring in double figures for Portland.
The key to winning this one for the Bucks was the dominance on the glass. They outrebounded the Blazers 49-33 with 16 of them coming on the offensive end as compared to the Blazers, who managed only 8 offensive rebounds. Both teams
committed a lot of turnovers on the night but the Bucks made up for it by running the floor and getting 8 more fast break than the visitors.
The other significant factor in the Bucks win was the unselfishness of their players. Bucks shared the ball very well as they dished out 31 assists on the night, Monta Ellis leading in that department with 7 assists.
Both teams started the game off very well and continued to trade baskets with each other. Bucks only held a minor advantage of 2 points at the end of the first period, 33-31. Portland responded back strongly in the second quarter
as they shot the ball very well from the field. They ended the second period on a 4-0 run and were leading at the half way stage, 63-54.
Bucks came out of the break a completely different team; they started the second half on a 10-2 run to pull to within 1 point, 64-65, 8:05 minutes remaining in the third period. Milwaukee continued their onslaught for the remainder
of the third quarter as they outscored Blazers 32-20 in the third, to get ahead by 3 points, 86-83.
If the third quarter was dominated by the Bucks, the fourth was an even stronger projection of it. Bucks ended the fourth quarter by only allowing the Blazers to score 11 points while managing to score 30 themselves to take this
one by a huge difference of 22 points - which was infact Milwaukee`s highest lead on the night.
This win enables the Bucks to move to within a half game of the New York Knicks for the playoffs contention. A Knicks loss at Chicago Bulls could bring their record at par with New York.
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