The Milwaukee Bucks have put a slow start behind them and are playing some of their best basketball of the season.
They’ll face another team that is playing better of late when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night.
The Bucks are starting a six-game road trip after sweeping a four-game homestand. They have won seven of eight and are a season-best seven games above .500.
“We’re playing great team ball, we’re competing defensively, we’re playing at a good pace,” forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “There were maybe one or two times we weren’t ourselves the last couple of weeks, but overall we’ve been competing every game and getting better.
“Guys are playing great and making shots, playing the right way, making the extra pass, helping one another defensively. So I’m happy where we are right now. But we’ve got to keep on improving every single day. We’ve been playing good. But it’s not enough.”
Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 15 rebounds in a 123-109 home victory against the injury-depleted Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. Damian Lillard scored 16 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and became the 38th player in NBA history to score 22,000 points.
“I didn’t even think about it before the game,” Lillard said. “Like I always say, I’m not really good about stuff like that, and then when it happens and I look back at it I’m like, ‘Man, it’s a great accomplishment.'”
Lillard was a teammate of Pelicans guard CJ McCollum for 8 1/2 seasons (2013-22) in Portland, and McCollum is coming off a significant performance of his own. He scored 45 points, including 31 after halftime, six of which came in overtime of a 123-119 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz on Monday night.
“CJ was incredible,” New Orleans coach Willie Green said. “Once he got going I thought his teammates did a great job of trying to find him. We were drawing stuff up for him and he executed over and over again. Without that effort it would have been hard for us to win that game.”
Utah scored the first 14 points of the game and led by as many as 25 points before the Pelicans put together the largest comeback in franchise history. New Orleans trailed by 20 points at halftime, but allowed just 50 points the rest of the way.
“The coaches challenged us to be more disciplined, be more engaged, be more aggressive and be more assertive,” McCollum said of the halftime locker room. “We didn’t bring it in the first half and it was obvious.”
The Pelicans have won a season-best four consecutive games and seven of their last 10.
“It’s just about perspective,” McCollum said of the team’s improvement, “keep getting better each day … and don’t take these wins for granted because it took us two months to get five wins.
“As quick as the tide turns, it can go up, it can go down. There are good days and bad days. There are losing streaks and winning streaks so you’ve got to ride the wave and keep your perspective in check.”
–Field Level Media
