PORTLAND, Ore. _ That's how you finish a road trip.
The Milwaukee Bucks, fresh off a rout of the Sacramento Kings, proved that victory wasn't just the result of catching an inferior team on the second night of a back-to-back. They dominated the Portland Trail Blazers _ a hot team with the second-best defensive rating in the NBA _ from start to finish, clicking on both ends during a 103-91 win to head back to Milwaukee with three victories from their four-game Western Conference road trip.
Expected to form the team's Big 3 when Eric Bledsoe was acquired on Nov. 7, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Bledsoe fit that description on Thursday night. If it wasn't the first time, it was certainly their best, most fluid effort since joining forces.
Middleton and Bledsoe got things going in the first quarter, with Middleton putting up 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting and Bledsoe adding seven. The Bucks controlled the pace, locked down on defense and took advantage of six Blazers turnovers to build a nine-point lead with seconds remaining in the period.
Then Middleton beat the buzzer, banking in a three-pointer to put an exclamation point on a strong start.
Portland, coming off winning four of five games on their trip out East, bounced right back with a 10-point salvo featuring eight points from Al-Farouq Aminu, playing in his first game back after missing 13 with a sprained right ankle. That push was as close as the Blazers would get.
The Bucks responded with a 7-0 spurt of their own and pushed the margin to 15 by halftime. Bledsoe was the star in the second quarter, making all five of his shots to collect 17 of his 25 points by the midway point of the game.
While Bledsoe and Middleton were racking up the points, Antetokounmpo was doing just about everything else. He was a bit slow to get going from a scoring standpoint, but used Portland's intent focus on him against them, dishing out four first-half assists.
At the other end, Antetokounmpo was all over the place. He ripped down rebounds and filled up passing lanes, but his most noticeable influence came when he was blocking shots. He met multiple Blazers at the rim with positive results and in the second quarter chased down C.J. McCollum for a block before later doing the same to Damian Lillard on the final play of the quarter, emphatically sending the game to halftime.
The Bucks didn't slow down at the half, pushing their lead as high as 24 points in the third quarter. By the game's close, Middleton (26 points), Bledsoe (25) and Antetokounmpo (20) had combined for 71 of Milwaukee's points as well as 13 assists and six steals. Not to be left out, John Henson added 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.
