This season has just been insane for good and bad reasons. The good is that the Kings have proven to hang with four of the best teams in the league in five games and beat one of them. The bad is that they fail to perform the same way against teams they should be beating. This game is particularly bad because Marvin Bagley left the game in the second half after awkwardly twisting his knee on a screen. He will have a MRI tomorrow to reveal the severity of the injury and all we can do is hope and pray for the best. Kings drop to 31-30.

Quarter-by-Quarter Recap

The first quarter was filled with great basketball from both teams. The Kings jumped off to a hot start with fantastic ball movement to get good looks and contesting every shot on defense. Although the Kings got off to a 22-12 lead, the Bucks came back to take the lead without Giannis Antetokounmpo. A Bogdan Bogdanovic three made the game 34-33 at the end of one in favor of Milwaukee. Buddy Hield led the Kings with seven points on 3-8 shooting while Willie Cauley-Stein was also looking good with six points, four rebounds and an assist. Malcolm Brogdon led the Bucks with 11 points on 5-6 shooting overall and 3-4 from deep.

The Kings were out-scored 39-29 by the Bucks despite Giannis spending the majority of time on the bench. The Kings missed some easy shots that should’ve been going in leading the Bucks to take advantage. The Bucks eventually took a nine-point lead and made it 73-62 at the half after a Bogdanovic turnover. The Bucks were 10-23 from three compared to the Kings 5-15 and the Bucks notched 20 assists on 29 made shots. They’re just too good. Brogdon led the way with 15 points on 6-7 shooting and Khris Middleton scored 13. For the Kings, Harrison Barnes led the scoring with 12 points on 5-8 shooting and six rebounds. Bogdanovic and De’Aaron Fox each scored 11 points.

I decided to make the second half into one. The Bucks still held a lead after outscoring the Kings 31-29 in the third quarter but then Marvin Bagley went down holding his knee. Brogdon’s illegal screen caused Bagley to collide and he had to be taken to the locker room. However, the Kings kept fighting as Harry Giles provided a huge spark in the fourth quarter. The Kings were trailing by 17 but with a 20-6 run in the last six minutes, they tied it up 126-126 and went into overtime as Fox couldn’t get a shot off.

The Kings fell behind by six in overtime behind two three pointers by Milwaukee but fought back into it. A Brogdon three pretty much sealed the deal as the lead was too big to overcome with a little amount of time. Bogdanovic hit an off-balance three at the buzzer to end it at 141-140. Prepare for Friday, folks.

Best Players

Bogdan Bogdanovic played one of his best games in a while. He finished with a career high 28 points on 10-22 shooting overall and 5-8 from three along with eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a block. Encouraging sign moving forward if he stays consistent.

Buddy Hield scored 32 points today despite only hitting 3-12 from three. He was a rough 10-29 overall to go with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. He was 9-9 from the charity stripe.

Harrison Barnes looked much better today as well. He finished with a double-double of 15 points (6-11 shooting, 3-6 from three) and 14 rebounds, one steal and one block.

De’Aaron Fox scored 17 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed six rebounds, Unfortunately, he didn’t record a steal tonight.

Willie Money Watch

Willie was definitely more engaged in this game than against Minnesota, but that costly turnover in overtime stings. The Kings had a chance to take the lead late in overtime but Cauley-Stein threw a sloppy angled pass to Hield and it went out of bounds. Who knows what happens if that pass was thrown correctly. He finished with 10 points on 4-10 shooting, nine rebounds and one assist.

Notable Stats

Harry Giles made some big plays in the fourth quarter leading to a final statline of 18 points (9-13 shooting), seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes.

The Kings barely won the rebound battle 58-57 but lost the assist battle 36-30.

The Kings shot 45% today overall (53-118) but the three hasn’t been there fully. They were 12-33 tonight.

Milwaukee had 14(!) blocks and dominated the paint at 70-56.

Next Game

The Kings host the Los Angeles Clippers this Friday at 7:00 PM PST. The Clippers lost to the Utah Jazz on the day of writing this. This is undoubtedly the most important game of the season for the Kings and it takes place in Golden 1 Center.