New York, Jan. 10 (BNA): Giannis Antetokounmpo can feel the Bucks are playing with more energy and he can feel a shift in their confidence with their 3-point shots.
“Once we make one, then we make the second,” he said. Then we made the third.
Their 17-point deficit was soon gone.
Antetokounmpo scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Milwaukee recovered in the second half and beat the New York Knicks 111-107 Monday night, the Associated Press reported.
Joe Engels added a season-high 17 points and Brook Lopez scored 17 for the Bucks, who hit 12 three-pointers after trailing 70-53 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“I think in the long run we’re going to make a lot of those shots,” Inglis said.
Lopez made the tie 97-all before forcing Jrue Holiday to the bench after committing three errors in the first 4 1/2 minutes and scoring five straight Milwaukee points.
The Bucks shut him out at the free throw line to snap the Knicks’ four-game winning streak and bounce back after allowing a season-worst 51 points in the first quarter of their loss to Charlotte on Friday.
Jalen Brunson scored 44 points for the Knicks, adding seven assists. Julius Randle scored 25 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, but was only 1-for-12 from 3-point range.
The Knicks hoped to continue their streak into the middle of their schedule, after following an eight-game winning streak and sliding from five games with four straight wins. They fell to 22-19.
Engels, who didn’t play for the Bucks until last month after missing the first 29 games after recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, helped come back with five three-pointers.
“It’s good to finish the game, it’s good to be in those positions clearly,” Inglis said.
Randle finally made a 3-pointer after the 0-for-9 halftime on the first possession of the third quarter, and his free throws capped a 13-2 lead midway through the period that extended the six-point lead to 70-53.
The Knicks still led by 16 points after Randle’s three-point play with 2:25 remaining, but he didn’t make another basket in the quarter as Milwaukee finished 13-2 on their own to narrow it to 78-73.
Obi Tobin opened the fourth with a three-pointer, but Lopez, Grayson Allen, and Engels followed with three in a row for Milwaukee to give the Bucks an 82-81 lead.
“I think we didn’t do the third well and then the start of the same fourth thing, so that’s probably the biggest thing,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Neither team led by more than three again until the Holiday 3-pointer was 103-99 with 47 seconds to play.
Bronson’s aggressive start soon put Holiday into bad trouble, forcing him to the bench within 4 1/2 minutes. But the Bucks’ big men were most effective defending Randle, who was 1-for-12, missing all eight 3-point attempts.
Bronson was only 1-for-6 in the second, but Emmanuel Kwikley went up with 13 points as the Knicks led 51-46 at halftime.
Tip-ins
Bucks: Chris Middleton missed his 12th straight game. … Coach Mike Bodenholzer said F/C Serge Ibaka, who is not with the team for personal reasons, will not be joining the Bucks during the road trip.
Knicks: Thibodeau said NFRJ Barrett, who missed six games with a torn finger on his right hand, is “very close” to a comeback and that the Knicks will see how they fare Tuesday. Tobin played for the first time since December 7 and scored three points. He was inactive for 13 games with an undisplaced fracture of his right fibula, then did not play in either of the first two matches after he was allowed to return.
next one
Bucks: In Atlanta on Wednesday.
Knicks: Indiana hosts on Wednesday.