Greek Freak and Bucks Stifle Sacramento Kings in Blowout
By Rafe Wong
After upsetting the Golden State Warriors the previous night, the Sacramento Kings had no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Game Summary
In the first period, both teams started out well shooting the ball. The difference, however, was the number of turnovers committed by each team. For Sacramento, there was a time in the quarter when they had five turnovers compared to zero for Milwaukee. Due to the difference in ball security, the Bucks led the Kings 32-26 after one.
The second quarter was when the Bucks started to roll. The Kings’ offense became stagnant as their ball movement stalled which resulted in Milwaukee forcing turnovers and getting quick and easy buckets on the offensive end. The period completely belonged to the Bucks, and going into halftime they led by a score of 61-37.
The second half remained all Milwaukee. The Kings’ offense remained to be ineffective and they had no answer in stopping the “Greek Freak” himself, Giannis Antetokounmpo. As the Bucks rallied, leading by 33 points to end the third, the Kings opted to give players deeper in their rotations some playing time in the fourth which resulted in a 28-point blowout for Sacramento in the end.
Players of the Game
Top performers for Sacramento tonight were Garrett Temple who scored 18 points on 5-8 shooting, Zach Randolph who scored ten points, and Willie Cauley-Stein who recorded ten points and ten rebounds.
Players who stood out for Milwaukee were Antetokounmpo who recorded 32 points, five rebounds, and four assists, Kris Middleton who scored 12 points, and Eric Bledsoe who recorded 21 points, five assists, and three steals.
Final Thoughts
The Kings have been bad this season when playing the second parts of back-to-back games, and their performance tonight added more substance to the case. It is easy to say that the Kings were sluggish due to playing last night, but honestly, the Bucks were just the better team and came into the Golden 1 Center swinging as they won the game in comfortable fashion.
The next time the Kings will play will be Friday night when they visit the Chicago Bulls.