Bucks win ninth straight by beating Thunder 108-94 without Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Milwaukee Bucks continued their winning streak without Giannis Antetokounmpo on Saturday night at Fiserv Forum, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder, 108-94. The Bucks are now 9-0 and remain the only unbeaten team in the NBA. It is also tied for the second-longest winning streak under head coach Mike Budenholzer since he took over in 2018-19. The team won 18 straight in 2019.

"It's obviously fun," said Brook Lopez. "I think what's pretty cool for us is we just feel like we can be so much better. That's pretty crazy. I was with Bobby (Portis) and JC (Jevon Carter) in the cold tub after the game. We were just talking about how much better we felt we could be, especially offensively. We feel like we've been pretty good defensively and can still get better there, but I feel like there's so much room to grow offensively, especially."

The Thunder dropped to 4-5.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

Bucks spread the wealth

Milwaukee tied a season high with made three-pointers (17) and set a season high in three-point attempts (47) in winning their ninth straight game, but they spread the wealth offensively. The following players set or tied season-highs in the win over the Thunder:

Brook Lopez: 25 points.Grayson Allen: 19 points and five made threes.Jevon Carter: 18 points and five made threes.Bobby Portis: 21 rebounds.Jrue Holiday: 13 assists.Jordan Nwora: 12 points.

"We trust whoever has the right shot for that possession," Portis said of the Bucks ball-sharing offense. "I mean, that's how you play good basketball, just move the basketball and the defense will tell you who needs to shoot at the right time."

Bucks limit star Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

The 6-foot, 6-inch guard came into the game averaging career highs in points (32.3), assists (6.3), steals (2.4) and blocks (1.1) per game while shooting a career-best 54.5% from the field overall. In order to slow him down, Milwaukee opened with Jevon Carter on him and then had George Hill take a turn while Jrue Holiday and MarJon Beauchamp also took turns in moments.

"He's such tough cover," Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. "He plays with a great pace, always seems under control, seems like he can get to his spots. But hopefully we (had) just great contests. Only five free throws and I think one of those was a defensive three seconds -- he gets to the free throw line a lot. We always talk about making the best players, the great players earn it, and I think that Jevon and George and all the guys did that."

Box score:Bucks 108, Thunder 94

In previous games against Brooklyn and Atlanta, the Bucks have acknowledged stars on those team had good statistical games but the rest of the team was neutralized. In the case of Gilgeous-Alexander, he was held to just 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting, and he had just one assist at halftime and finished with three. But the rest of the Thunder was pestered throughout as well, as just two others reached double figures in scoring.

"We've got a lot of different guys we can throw at a lot of different people," Portis said. "We're a deep team. We can throw different guys, so like, 'your tunn, gotta get mine' (on offense) I think ours is like 'it's my turn to hold him' or 'Wes it's your turn, get your four minutes with him,' 'Jevon it's your turn, get your four minutes to get him,' 'Jrue it's your turn, get your four minutes.' I think that's our term of 'getting yours' on the defensive end. I think we buy in that way and we've got a lot of different guys that can do a lot of different things on that side of the basketball and I think our defense just helps us be the best we can be."

Giannis Antetokounmpo misses game vs. Thunder with left knee soreness

A night after posting his 30th career triple-double in Minnesota while playing through left knee soreness, Giannis Antetokounmpo was downgraded to questionable to play against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday afternoon. He did not warm up like usual, and Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer ruled him out prior to the game.

“Just a lot of communication with Giannis, with the medical group, it’s just important to kind of understand where he is today, how he’s feeling, also how much more basketball we have ahead of us,” Budenholzer said. “It’s to do everything we can to stay ahead and on top of his health. So, tonight, unfortunately, that’s just the decision. He’s not gonna play.”

Antetokounmpo is averaging a career high in points per game (32.6) through eight games, even though he hasn’t quite found his touch from behind the three-point (27.6%) and free throw (63.1%) lines. He is also averaging 12.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game.

"It just shows our depth and how good of a team we truly are," Lopez said of the win over the Thunder. "And obviously Giannis is OK, so we're in a good place, but coach 'Bud,' he said before, it's kind of exciting. Giannis gets to rest, refill his cup and we get a chance to get better and see what we're like without Giannis on the court and get better in that way. We got a lot better tonight."

MarJon Beauchamp gets first start of career

The Bucks were going to have their first new starting lineup of the season as soon as Antetokounmpo was ruled out with left knee soreness – and it wasn’t a surprise to see Bobby Portis get the call to play forward next to center Brook Lopez. But it was interesting to see rookie MarJon Beauchamp get the call over Grayson Allen in the opening unit.

"Just a lot of kind of little things, just an opportunity to shake it up a little bit," Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said of the decision to start the rookie. "Obviously to play without Giannis is different. I'm not going to go into it all, but there's just a handful of things that -- and you're never sure -- but it felt like it was the right thing to do. A lot of credit to Grayson for playing the way he did off the bench was really impressive. For Bobby to go in and get 21 rebounds as a starter. They both kind of embraced playing in a little bit different role. It was exactly what we needed tonight."

After not getting any court time in three of the first four games of the season, the first-round draft pick saw a total of 10 minutes of action against Atlanta on Oct. 29 and Detroit on Oct. 31. But he played 16 minutes against the Pistons on Nov. 2 and followed it up with a solid 18-minute effort against Minnesota on Friday night in which he scored 14 points.

In his start, Beauchamp couldn’t replicate the offensive success with two points on 1-of-8 shooting, including 0 for 5 from behind the three-point line before he fouled out in 25 minutes.

Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton injury updates

Bucks all-star Khris Middleton practiced with the Wisconsin Herd on Nov. 1 to get some five-on-five work in, and at the time Budenholzer felt Middleton might need another session before returning to the team. But with the club heading out on a three-game, five-day road trip Budenholzer did not have an update on whether Middleton would travel with the team or stay behind in Milwaukee to get additional work in.

Middleton had left wrist surgery in July.

Pat Connaughton said in Minnesota his strained right calf isn’t quite fully healed, but Budenholzer did say the wing will make the trip.

More:Milwaukee Bucks set franchise record with eighth straight win to start season after defeating Timberwolves

More:Milwaukee Bucks’ Pat Connaughton wins offseason NBA Cares Community Assist Award for community work

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5 numbers

5: Season-high three-pointers made each in the game by Bucks guard Jevon Carter and Grayson Allen.

10-2-1: Points, rebounds and assists in the second quarter for Bucks guard Jordan Nwora.

14: Players in the league averaging a double-double, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are two of them. Portis recorded his sixth of the season vs. the Thunder with 12 points and career-high 21 rebounds.

2-13: Thunder shooting from behind the three-point line in the second quarter and through the first eight minutes of the third after starting the game 5 for 10 in the first quarter. That cold stretch helped the Bucks break a 34-34 tie after one and take a 24-point lead. Oklahoma City then made four straight threes late in the third as the Milwaukee defense flattened out a bit, and the Thunder did cut the deficit to 10 in the fourth quarter.

2014-15: The last year a team in the NBA started 9-0. The Golden State Warriors ran off 24 straight that season.

Plays of the game were Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez in the two-man game

The Bucks took a 24-point lead in the third quarter, but the Thunder snuck back into it by making four straight three-pointers to pull to within 93-78. Then, it got it to within 97-87 early in the fourth quarter. At that point, Bucks veterans Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez had enough of that. Following a MarJon Beauchamp bucket, Holiday assisted on three straight Lopez baskets to key a 10-0 run that once again put the Bucks back up comfortably.

"Absolutely -- nip it in the bud," Lopez said. "We didn't want them really get any closer obviously, kind of keep our control of the game."

Video of the game highlights the Bucks’ ball movement

The Bucks were going to have to replace – as best they could – the 30 or so points per game they get from Giannis Antetokounmpo. But, they’d have to do it together.

Late in the second quarter, the Bucks made five passes before Grayson Allen knocked down a three-pointer to make it 53-47. In the early part of the season head coach Mike Budenholzer said there were moments his unselfish team had passed their way into a poorer shot, but the team has tightened that up of late and instead have used sharp ball movement to find the best shot.

Who do the Bucks play next?

The Milwaukee Bucks head on their first extended road trip of the season beginning on Monday in Atlanta to face the Hawks at 7:15 p.m. at State Farm Arena. The Bucks beat the Hawks 123-115 at Fiserv Forum on Oct. 29.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks win ninth straight as they beat Thunder 108-94