MILWAUKEE_The Utah Jazz opened Saturday night's game at the BMO Harris Bradley Center with ball movement that resulted in a corner three-pointer for Derrick Favors.
After splashing a franchise-record 18 three-pointers on the Milwaukee Bucks two weeks ago in Salt Lake City, it looked like the second matchup between the two teams could follow a similar script.
As it turns out, that shot was not a sign of things to come.
That trey represented the Jazz's only lead of the night as the Bucks immediately responded with a 10-point run and led by as many as 22 points en route to a 117-100 victory. The win closed out a perfect three-game homestand for the Bucks following victories over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday and Dallas Mavericks on Friday.
Khris Middleton, who had 31 points on Friday including 16 in the fourth quarter, picked up where he left off. He played the duration of the first quarter, going 4 of 6 from the field to score 9 of his 20 points on the night.
Led by Middleton's hot start, the Bucks took a 10-point lead into the second quarter and quickly extended their advantage to 16. That's when fouls disrupted their rhythm.
The Bucks committed just one foul in the first quarter but were tagged for 10 in the second, with John Henson, Thon Maker and DeAndre Liggins all heading into halftime with three fouls. Utah took advantage of Milwaukee's handsy defense by knocking down 12 of 16 free throws in the period with many coming during a 19-5 run that cut the Bucks' lead down to two points at 44-42 with 1:50 until halftime.
Giannis Antetokounmpo got things stabilized with a bucket then found Eric Bledsoe for a three-pointer. With the clock running down in the half, Middleton found Gary Payton II _ who started his second successive game with Tony Snell (left patella tendinitis), Matthew Dellavedova (left knee tendinitis) and Jason Terry (left calf strain) all out _ behind the defense for an easy layup that gave Milwaukee a 51-42 lead at the break.
The third quarter brought more from Antetokounmpo, who scored 12 of his 37 points in that period to help the Bucks build a lead as large as 21 and essentially put the game away. Antetokounmpo finished with 13 rebounds and seven assists, coming three assists shy of setting the franchise triple-double record.
Bledsoe, who was celebrating his 28th birthday, added 20 points to push the Bucks to 4-0 when he, Antetokounmpo and Middleton all score 20-plus points.
Antetokounmpo didn't throttle down with the Bucks in full control late in the game. He brought the Bradley Center to its feet on two separate occasions.
First, Antetokounmpo collected a loose ball off an errant shot by Henson. He turned around at the top of the key to realize the shot clock was winding down and fired up a three-pointer that beat the shot clock and caught nothing but net.
But he didn't stop there.
Antetokounmpo put an exclamation point on the victory with a full-extension, one-handed jam over Jazz center Rudy Gobert with a few seconds remaining, taking a few moments to smile and celebrate after the dunk.
