Game thread: New York Knicks @ Milwaukee Bucks 8:00 12/2/2019 [Game #21]

Giannis Antetokounmpo made his NBA debut in a five-minute cameo against the New York Knicks on Oct. 30, 2013, at Madison Square Garden, and he scored 10 points in his first NBA start while facing the Knicks on Dec. 18, 2013.

Six years later, Antetokounmpo has made a habit of consistently dominating the Knicks, and these days the forward and the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks are running roughshod over the rest of the NBA.

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks attempt to run their winning streak to 12 games Monday night when they host the Knicks.

The Bucks are 8-1 in their last nine meetings, the one loss a 136-134 overtime affair in New York on Dec. 1, 2018, when Milwaukee blew a 16-point lead.

For his career, Antetokounmpo is averaging 20.7 points on 50.2 percent shooting, and Milwaukee is 15-3 against the Knicks with him in the starting lineup since the 2013-14 season. Antetokounmpo has scored at least 30 points in his last five games against the Knicks and has a double-double in his last eight games against New York.

Milwaukee's three losses this season are by a combined 19 points. Since losing on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Bojan Bogdanovic Nov. 8 in Utah, the Bucks are on their longest winning streak since also winning 11 in a row Jan. 9-Feb. 2, 1985.

A win on Monday would give Milwaukee 12 straight victories for the first time since Jan. 26-Feb. 21, 1982, and would be its sixth winning streak of at least 12 games in team history.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 30.9 points and 13.4 rebounds this season, and during Milwaukee's winning streak he is averaging 32.4 points and 12.7 rebounds while shooting 55.1 percent.

Antetokounmpo had a double-double in every game this season until Saturday's 137-96 rout over Charlotte when he finished with 26 points and nine rebounds while playing 19:37. His season-opening streak of double-doubles left him well short of Bill Walton's 34 straight in 1976-77 with Portland.

"He's doing amazing things and there's more to come," coach Mike Budenholzer said after Milwaukee's most lopsided win this season. "We're trying to have conversations with him about being healthy and fresh and how important that is. Pretty incredible if you're being mentioned with the greats of our game."

The Knicks enter at 4-16, matching their worst 20-game start in team history. The Knicks matched the mark set by the 2014-15 team when they took a 113-104 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon.

The Knicks are on a six-game losing streak and 2-8 since team president Steve Mills gave a lengthy press conference following a blowout home loss to Cleveland on Nov. 10. The Knicks sustained their latest loss by getting outscored 32-19 in the fourth and 26-11 in the last 8:01, two days after blowing a 16-point lead to Philadelphia.

"We came out and played hard," Knicks rookie RJ Barrett said. "Even in those moments we still got to stick together and make the right plays."

Julius Randle led the Knicks with 26 points but New York was without leading scorer Marcus Morris (neck spasms) and lost starting point guard Frank Ntilikina (sore back) after the first quarter. Morris, who leads the Knicks in scoring at 18.7 points per game, was replaced by struggling second-year forward Kevin Knox, who scored 11 after not playing Friday.

(Field Level Media / cbssports.com)

Thanks for the Game-Thread Rady .... I missed yesterday game vs the Kembaless Celtrics .. And it look like Giannis big stuff over Randle under the basket to give Bucks 9-4 lead is spelling what lay ahead

DSJ Dotson and Portis are gonna have to come up with their own offensive plays for each other rather than rely on Fizdale's 3 ball plays

Ellington or Trier ????

Down 30 to 15 in the 1st quarter. I mean, c?mon, at this point. Dolan should be paying us to watch this team.

43 seconds remaining in the first qtr. and MitchRob picks up his 3rd foul !!! Fire the coach Fizdale, and Fire Perry for not resigning starter center DeAndre Jordan.
End of 1st.
Knicks 15 - Bucks 33

You guys deserve a lot of credit for watching ?team backup power forwards?

MRob and Knox with 0 points and 5 fouls combined in the first Q. Starting Pg scoreless. This team gonna talk about improvement tonight? Nope, they?ll suffer another wire to wire blowout.

DSJ is 0-5 shooting and his poor play-maker skills are still not working on getting teammates into the offense ..

Story of every season.... some prospects play well in spurts and then are out of the league by 29...

We lose a bunch of games in the 4th, then have a bunch of fake comebacks (after trailing by double digits), then we suffer wire to wire blowouts. We get fed the same line after each sort of loss...

Unless fans start no-showing en masse.... not much will change.

At this point, is anybody on this team a starter on a winning team? Maybe RJ (in a few years)? Where the tough love for the Foulman? Robinson is killing this team....

This can't go on too much longer before they pull the plug on Fizdale. Breen and Clyde talking about the lack of defensive effort, the young guys not showing much progress other than Nits. Bottom line is we're a last place club with a roster of vets and young players and we were a last place club with the youngest team last season. You have to fire the coach when you're a last place team with two different types of rosters.

Don?t give me 3rd game in 4 nights either. This is garbage. So tired of them puffing their chests out when they play (and lose) a close game to a good team, then pat themselves in their backs like they accomplished something.

Mills, Fiz, and Perry need to go now!

I can?t even watch this team anymore. Following the box score still makes my blood boil.

It?s almost unfathomable to think they were happy with DSJ in The KP trade. They said they were looking for cap relief, draft picks, and a young asset. At this point, M Fultz is looking like the better player. The front office has no clue (Randle, KP trade, Ellington, sign an injured Bullock, Mario, EP)....

There?s not even a blue chipper, unless that Israeli prospect has you thinking about Doncic.

I was a couple days/games off but thank goodness Fizdale is getting whacked after this game

mafra said:

Don’t give me 3rd game in 4 nights either. This is garbage. So tired of them puffing their chests out when they play (and lose) a close game to a good team, then pat themselves in their backs like they accomplished something.

Mills, Fiz, and Perry need to go now!

I can’t even watch this team anymore. Following the box score still makes my blood boil.

It’s almost unfathomable to think they were happy with DSJ in The KP trade. They said they were looking for cap relief, draft picks, and a young asset. At this point, M Fultz is looking like the better player. The front office has no clue (Randle, KP trade, Ellington, sign an injured Bullock, Mario, EP)....

There’s not even a blue chipper, unless that Israeli prospect has you thinking about Doncic.

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Mills was crowing like a rooster when he made that deal. One thing about Dolan is he's shown that he'll make front office changes despite his relationships with them. If anyone in the last 10 years needs to be fired its Mills.

3 min left in the 3rd quarter Bucks lead Knicks 97 - 58 .... Could we FIRE Fizdale NOW ?????

tiger0330 said:

Mills was crowing like a rooster when he made that deal. One thing about Dolan is he's shown that he'll make front office changes despite his relationships with them. If anyone in the last 10 years needs to be fired its Mills.

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I would make Mills suffer a miserable dismissal and require his last executive order be the hiring of his replacement

I would consult MSG execs on a list of candidates requesting of at least a dozen and make Mills sit through each interview

What was Fizdale smiling about in that last timeout, Portis sure wasn't happy about this blowout.

tiger0330 said:

Mills was crowing like a rooster when he made that deal. One thing about Dolan is he's shown that he'll make front office changes despite his relationships with them. If anyone in the last 10 years needs to be fired its Mills.

Click to expand...

They had a story on why some GM didn?t want the job... maybe it was LJ?s old GM or something. Dolan was willing to give him the sun and moon... he just wouldn?t allow him to bring his own front office staff. No quality GM will come here if Dolan is forcing Mills and other front office minions down their throat.

Let?s kill Mills here, not Fizdale. Fiz was told he?d be coaching KP, Zion, Kyrie and KD... not this hot smelly mess.

We 22-32 from FT line... another game with 10 misses.