Portland Trail Blazers bounce back with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks
After absorbing their first loss of the season on Monday 1 November, the Portland Trail Blazers came out strong and ended their four-game road trip with a convincing 90-76 win against the
Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday 2 November.
Wesley Matthews, who was acquired by the Trail Blazers after the Utah Jazz declined to match the five-year, $34 million offer sheet during the off-season, sparked the Blazers offence when
he scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half.
"Wesley came in and brought some energy," Portland head coach Nate McMillan said. "Scrappy defensively, but offensively I thought he was aggressive tonight."
The 24-year old guard came off the bench and quickly torched the Bucks with seven points in the first period, followed by a nine-point explosion in the second period, and confused Milwaukee’s
defence with his array of slashing game and deadly outside-sniping.
"My teammates were finding me and I was able to make plays," he said. "They are going to draw a lot of attention. You've got to move and make the game easy for them and by doing that, you
get open looks."
Brandon Roy also had a share of the spotlight as the all-star guard racked up 17 points and a game-high five steals, while LaMarcus Aldridge scored 14 points and collected eight rebounds
for the Blazers, who came out flat in their blowout loss against the Bulls on Monday 1 November.
"I just thought we were connected tonight on both ends of the floor, where last night we seemed to be disconnected," McMillan said. "Our execution wasn't good last night and we were giving
up boards. The Bulls were the aggressors, but tonight, I thought we were the aggressors."
The Bucks managed to stay within striking distance and trailed by only two points, 47-45, at the half. However, Portland stepped on the gas in the third period to outscore Milwaukee, 26-17,
to build a 73-62 lead in the final period, and they never looked back to take their fourth win of the season against only one setback.
Corey Maggette finished the game with 16 points, while Australian centre Andrew Bogut tallied 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bucks, who only shot 37.5 per cent from the field against
the Blazers’ 47.5 per cent clip from the floor.
"They got blown out yesterday in Chicago, and they came out motivated," Bogut said. "They had something to prove tonight. They needed this win."
The Bucks, who dropped their third game of the season, will try to bounce back against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday 3 November, while the Trail Blazers will gun for their fifth win on
Thursday 4 November against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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