Milwaukee Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen scored 21 points each to help the Utah Jazz beat Milwaukee 132-116, their fourth loss in five games.
Antetokounmpo scored 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists for the Bucks. Utah, which has won five of six and 11-4 in its past 15, had 19 points from John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Keyonte George.
“That’s a good win,” Markkanen added. It's hard to lead at 30. That's hard to maintain. We thought they would make a push, so staying calm and grinding it out was a terrific win.” Due to personal issues, Milwaukee was missing guard Damian Lillard, who averaged 25.1 points. The Bucks' Khris Middleton scored 23 and Malik Beasley 17.
“You’ve got to stay together, that’s it,” Antetokounmpo added. “Doing it your way won't work. We've been here before. Allow yourself to be in this posture... We must improve, though. We must keep doing the tiny things.”
Bucks scored 44 points in the third quarter to get within 100-90 entering the fourth quarter after trailing 77-46 at halftime. Jordan Clarkson drove the Jazz up 109-92 after a 9-2 run in the fourth quarter. Brook Lopez's dunk brought the Bucks within 111-103 with 6:52 left.
We flipped it a little bit as far as our energy and effort, and we made it a ballgame, but you can't dig yourself in a hole like that,” Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said. "You have to play extremely hard and exert a lot of energy just to get back into the game."
The Jazz, who were 14 of 64 from 3-point range in their previous two games, shot 11 of 17 in the first quarter to lead 41-23. Five players scored in double digits at halftime as the Jazz nailed 28 of 53 shots for 52.8%, including 16 of 30 from deep. A 3-point shot by Antetokounmpo brought the Bucks within 81-16 after a 15-4 surge in the third quarter.
“I think the first possession, Lauri Markkanen had a 3 and after that, everything went downhill,” Antetokounmpo said. 11 in the first quarter, 16 at halftime. Honestly, that's a lot of 3s. We must protect the 3 better. However, you can't get rebounds if you don't defend the 3, drive, or 3... we need to rediscover our identity.
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