SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
National Basketball Association
Milwaukee 94, San Antonio 87
When: 9:00 PM ET, Friday, November 10, 2017
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Officials: #25 Tony Brothers, #71 Rodney Mott, #21 Dedric Taylor
Attendance: 18418

SAN ANTONIO -- Eric Bledsoe hasn't had a chance to go through a full practice with Milwaukee after being traded to the Bucks by Phoenix earlier this week, so maybe it was just his veteran moxie and the fact that he had something to prove that helped him guide his new team to a 94-87 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday at the AT&T Center.

There were sure a lot of smiles going around the Bucks' locker room after Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 12 rebounds and Bledsoe added 13 points and hit a key jumper down the stretch as Milwaukee snapped a four-game losing streak and won in the Alamo City for the second straight season.

Bledsoe hadn't played an NBA game since the Suns' 130-88 loss to the Clippers on Oct. 21, but he looked in midseason form and like a man happy to be contributing and making a difference.

"I felt good out there tonight my teammates made it easy on me," Bledsoe said afterward. "I have the easy job. At the end of the day, it's basketball. We made great plays throughout the game and kept our composure at the end. It's all about winning. We had a lot of easy buckets and made things happen in transition tonight."

The Bucks led 87-80 with 6:13 to play on a jumper by Khris Middleton, but Milwaukee missed its next five shots and allowed San Antonio to pull within 89-87 on Manu Ginobili's 3-point play with 2:26 remaining.

Bledsoe, who was playing his first game with Milwaukee, made a jumper with 1:40 to play and Middleton added another with 55 seconds left to push the Bucks' advantage to 93-87. The Spurs missed their final five shots and got no second chances down the stretch.

Middleton added 13 points for the Bucks (5-6) and John Henson added 10 for Milwaukee.

"Eric gave us a little life there in the first half with his speed and in the end by fighting through and not allowing himself to get picked off," Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd said. "He is a pro, and we understand that he is talented. His ability to run the pick and roll with Giannis late allowed us to hold on tonight.

"When San Antonio made its run, we didn't break. It shows that we are growing and our attention to detail was at a very high level. We were looking to be aggressive on the defensive end and we did a great job of converting the turnovers we forced tonight."

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs (7-5) with 20 points and 12 rebounds, Ginobili scored a season-high 18 points off the bench and Patty Mills and Kyle Anderson had 14 and 10 points, respectively.

San Antonio had a three-game win streak snapped.

"We had a good opportunity with two minutes to go to take the lead and missed the shot," Ginobili said. "We played pretty poorly for most of the game and they played better. We adjusted to their defense late in the game but it was too late. It's hard to win an NBA game with 18 turnovers."

The Spurs led 47-46 at halftime as the game featured five ties and six lead changes in the first 24 minutes, none more than a seven-point advantage enjoyed by the Spurs midway through the first quarter. San Antonio had 11 turnovers in the half, which negated its 52.8 percent-42 percent field-goal percentage advantage.

Aldridge paced the Spurs with 14 points in the first half while Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 14.

Milwaukee began the third quarter with a 10-3 run to sweep to a 57-50 lead. The Bucks then forged a 13-6 run to push their lead to 70-56 before settling for a 76-70 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

"We can't turn the ball over the way we're constituted right now," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Every time we have a high turnover game we are going to have problems. (Milwaukee) showed better composure than we did down the stretch. They got some good shots and we were a little bit sloppy with too many defensive errors."

NOTES: The Spurs have 500 wins in the AT&T Center. Since moving into the building in 2002, that's the most home wins of any team in the NBA (Dallas is second with 436). ... One of the craziest games in Spurs history took place on March 6, 1982, against the Bucks in the HemisFair Arena. San Antonio beat Milwaukee 171-166 in triple overtime. The Spurs' 171 points that night is a club record and the combined point total of 337 is the second highest in NBA history. ... Bucks G Matthew Dellavedova and Spurs G Patty Mills are both from Australia, both attended St. Mary's (Calif.) and played together for the Australian national basketball team as well as competed for Australia in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics
Top Game Performances
 
Milwaukee   San Antonio
Giannis Antetokounmpo 28 Scoring LaMarcus Aldridge 20
Eric Bledsoe 7 Assists Pau Gasol 5
Giannis Antetokounmpo 12 Rebounds LaMarcus Aldridge 12
Giannis Antetokounmpo 4 Free Throws Made LaMarcus Aldridge 4
Malcolm Brogdon 2 Steals Rudy Gay 2
Giannis Antetokounmpo 4 Blocks LaMarcus Aldridge 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Milwaukee 94 46.1 5-18 7-14 27 47 7 10 14
San Antonio 87 42.5 9-29 10-11 23 43 6 8 18
Upcoming Games
  • San Antonio will play their next game at home against Chicago. The Spurs have a W/L % of .750 after a win and .250 after a loss.
  • Milwaukee will play their next game at home against L.A. Lakers. The Bucks have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .500 after a loss.