------ Giannis Antetokounmpo scores 20 points, nine rebounds, and five assists to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 103-91 win over the Portland Trail Blazers Thursday night at Moda Center.
For the second time this season, the Milwaukee Bucks used their length to frustrate the Trail Blazes into a number of unforced errors which lead to a road victory and a season sweep over Portland.
Milwaukee (11-9) scored 29 points off of 19 Portland Turnovers. The Bucks closed out the final 3:40 of the first quarter on a 13-2 run during which the Blazers had four turnovers. The Blazers responded with a 10-0 run to open the second quarter cutting the Bucks lead to two at 33-31, but the Bucks responding by pushing their lead back to double digits taking a 60-45 lead into halftime. Portland never threatened in the second half as Milwaukee pushed their lead to as much as 24.
Portland (13-9) got 25 points and 11 rebounds from Jusuf Nurkic on 9-for-17 shooting, but the rest of Portland's offense struggled. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum combined to score just 33 points on 14-of-36 shooting. The Blazers connected on just 42.2% of their shots including just 6-for-23 from three-point range.
After the game, Nurkic shared his frustration with the loss and even took time to defend his teammates. Meyers Leonard, who first entered the game in the third quarter with the Trail Blazers trailing by 19 points was booed by a large number of fans after air-balling a three-pointer something Nurkic thought was uncalled for.
"It's tough when you have fans who boo Meyers Leonard for no reason," Nurkic said in response to a question unrelated to Meyers Leonard. "If they boo him, then boo everybody. Just don't boo the guy who just missed a shot. It's no good. We don't look good, boo me, boo everybody if we're not fighting for them ... I think he does not deserve just to be booed for no reason."
Al-Farouq Aminu made his return tonight after missing 13 games with an injury. He scored six points and pulled down five rebounds in just over 22 minutes of work.
Next up- Portland will get Friday off and then host the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night at Moda Center. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:00 PM.
Chad's Take- I don't want to overreact to this loss. The Bucks are a bad match up for the Blazers. Their length disrupts Dame and CJ which causes the offense to bog down resulting in a number of poor shots. Let's just be thankful Milwaukee is in the Eastern Conference, so that the Blazers only have to play them twice per season.