Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis, and Kevin Porter Jr. were spectacular in the Milwaukee Bucks‘ 116-101 home win over the Boston Celtics without injured star Giannis Antetokounmpo, so much so that Jaylen Brown compared them to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh after the game.
“Just a bad shooting night. But I feel like Milwaukee played with more force than us tonight,” Brown said via NBC Sports Boston. “Give credit to them. Bobby Portis, Kuzma, and Porter looked like Bosh, Wade, and Bron.”
“Just because we’ve had some success doesn’t mean we have the privilege of… casually going through the game,” he added. “We gotta have the right mindset no matter what. Can’t take games for granted.”
Kuzma produced a season-high 31 points on 13-for-17 shooting to help the Milwaukee Bucks snap their two-game losing skid. Portis had 27 points and 10 rebounds on 11-for-13 shooting, while Porter contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists on 6-for-10 shooting.
Milwaukee Bucks News: Doc Rivers praises the team’s third-quarter burst that gave them the victory
Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers lauded his players for their superb defensive effort in the third period that helped them get the win. After being down 67-60 in the first two periods, the team outscored Boston 27-13 in the third, forcing them to go 0-for-12 from behind the three-point line.
“I thought our defense was phenomenal,” Rivers said via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We basically took away their threes. That’s what they kept hunting, and we kept taking them away, and I thought it was great.”
“And we drilled it for two days, like, that ball, you have to arrive on the pass. That’s all we talked about, you have to arrive on the pass and run ’em off the shot, and I thought our guys did that,” he concluded.
