Giannis Antetokounmpo got his points, but Grayson Allen had the key three in a Bucks win

The Milwaukee Bucks traveled to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks on Wednesday night and hung on for a 109-103 victory thanks to tough defense and some clutch baskets late. Milwaukee is 15-5 and New York dropped to 10-12.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

Grayson Allen hits the game-winner

The Bucks had made just 9 of their 34 three-point attempts in the first 47 minutes 30 seconds. But with Giannis Antetokounmpo fouled out and Jrue Holiday with five fouls, Grayson Allen and Brook Lopez ran a two-man game after Holiday initiated the play, which resulted in Allen’s first made three of the game to put the Bucks up 106-103 with 30 seconds left.

“There’s kind of multiple options (on the last play) and that’s certainly one of ‘em,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Jrue, he’s our point guard, he’s going to make good reads, good decisions and it’s good to have things on the back side. Grayson’s just been in a great place. He only had 11 but it felt like that last one was worth 10. It was just good execution, it’s a good shot by Grayson, good screen by Brook.”

Holiday initially worked around a screen from Bobby Portis but quickly reversed it back to Allen to set up the key go-ahead bucket.

Box score: Bucks 109, Knicks 103

As for what was going through Allen's head?

"Make it," he said.

Lopez gave him just enough space over New York’s R.J. Barrett from 24 feet to knock down the shot.

"We honestly run that play a lot," Allen said. "That's not really a drawn up ATO (after-timeout). That's just one of the many sets and plays that we kind of have in our back pocket. So we go through that one a lot in practice. That's always when we're scripting, going five-on-(zero). We're always going through that one. I think we're all really comfortable with that."

Antetokounmpo had fouled out 30 seconds before that play preventing Mitchell Robinson from a dunk attempt that would have put the Knicks ahead. Budenholzer challenged the foul, but Antetokounmpo said after the game he knew he fouled Robinson because he was preventing an easy basket. The calculation paid off, even if he had to sit and watch the end of the game like Knicks superfan Spike Lee.

"Big shot, big play, great execution," Antetokounmpo said. "Great play by coach. Big shot by Grayson. Just being aggressive down the stretch and being able to get to his spot and knock it down for us was big. But he's been playing great all season long."

Allen scored 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting but was just 1-for-4 from behind the three-point line. He added five rebounds and four assists.

Lopez had nine points, six rebounds, two key late blocks and the one assist.

Pat Connaughton knocks down key threes, gets hit in face

Since returning from a strained calf Nov. 21, it has taken key Bucks bench player Pat Connaughton some time to rediscover his shot. While on a minutes limit in his first two games (he averaged about 15 minutes per) he was just 1-for-9 from behind the three-point line. Then, he caught the illness that is going around the team and missed the game Nov. 26 against Cleveland. Cleared to return Sunday against Dallas, Connaughton was just 1-for-3 from behind the three-point line.

He then missed his first 5 three-pointers Wednesday night, but Connaughton hit his first one early in the fourth quarter to put the Bucks up 79-73. He then knocked down his second to put the Bucks up 86-79. Those weren’t huge leads, but in a tight, defensive-oriented game, the breathing room was much needed for Milwaukee.

“Those plays, they’re big," Budenholzer said. "'PC' hasn’t played for a long time so he’s going to take a little bit of time to get his rhythm, get his shot. But having him back is really big.”

Connaughton also drew a big offensive foul from Barrett with 12.9 seconds left, which eventually led to two free throws by Holiday with 11.4 seconds left.

Watch:Giannis Antetokounmpo throws down monstrous breakaway dunk as Tim Hardaway Jr. avoids being posterized again in Bucks win over Mavericks

Bucks' last game:Grayson Allen, Giannis Antetokounmpo lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 124-115 win over Mavericks

Knicks cure what ailed Bucks three-point defense

The last time Milwaukee played New York, a victory Oct. 28, it was just the fourth game of the Bucks’ season and the Knicks were just 12 for 35 (34.3%) from behind the three-point line. Knicks point guard Derrick Rose called the Bucks defense intimidating, and it was in the first 10 games of the season in which the Bucks went 9-1 and led the NBA in three-point defense (33.8%) while allowing the third-fewest makes (10.6) and seventh-fewest attempts (31.7) per game.

In the nine games between then and Wednesday, the Bucks went 5-4 while seeing their opponents improve from distance. From Nov. 9-27 the Bucks allowed 39.4% of threes to be made – which would be second-last in the league if it were a season-long number.

Opponents made an average of 13 threes on 33 attempts over this period, too, so the Bucks regressed to No. 21 in the league in defending the three.

In the first 10 games of the season, only one team got up at least 40 threes (Minnesota) and just four teams made at least a dozen. Over the last nine games, three teams have gotten up at least 40 and seven have made at least 12.

“You want to probably most importantly keep the percentages down, but attempts is important to us, too,” Budenholzer said before the Knicks game. “We’ve had a few games – or if it sounds like maybe a couple weeks – where there’s been some slippage. But I think there is a type of shot that is maybe harder to completely take away or reduce that also, hopefully, the percentages are lower. So we kind of look at everything to be honest with you. I think we can better. We’d like to be better. But, I think it’s something but I don think we’re overly concerned about it.”

There are some personnel reasons for this slippage, too. Holiday (four games), Wesley Matthews (three), Antetokounmpo (two), and Allen (one) all were injured in and then missed games during the last nine. But they’ve all been together the last three when Chicago, Cleveland and Dallas have gone 47-for-116 (40.5%).

Enter the Knickerbockers, stage right.

The Knicks were just 6-for-30 from the behind the three-point line. It was the second-fewest threes allowed in a game for the Bucks (Philadelphia had five in the season opener) and it was the worst percentage for an opponent all season.

The first half was a pitcher’s duel

Milwaukee took a 47-45 lead into the break despite shooting just 37.3% and 18.2% from behind the three-point line. At one point, the Bucks’ had made just 7% of their attempts from distance. But, the Bucks leaned on their defense and Antetokounmpo in the paint. The Knicks shot only 38.3% overall and 23.5% from behind the three-point line, but they turned it over seven times for 10 Bucks points while Antetokounmpo scored 8 of his 14 points in the paint. The Bucks outscored the Knicks 30-22 in the painted area. And, with all those misses, Milwaukee hit the offensive glass to score 12 points off eight offensive rebounds to manufacture offense.

"They got a good amount of open looks, I know we go ta ton of good looks from three ," Allen said. "I know that's that what they wanted though. They're a heavy shift team. When we watch film on them they're gonna shift, they're gonna make you play with the pass and kick it out. So we did that, and we got some good looks. We just couldn't knock 'em down at the beginning."

Khris Middleton is ‘close’ to a return

After Khris Middleton went through a light practice with the Bucks and then a more intense run with the Wisconsin Herd on Monday, Budenholzer was asked by members of the New York media about a potential timeline for the all-star’s return on Wednesday night.

“I’m not here to say when he’s going to play, when he’s not going to play,” Budenholzer said. “We’ll continue to see how he does. He did some work today after shootaround, we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. I’m not exactly sure what’s scheduled for him tomorrow but I think to say he’s close is accurate. I’m going to just leave it at that. Close can mean anything.”

Antetokounmpo named Eastern Conference player of the week

Antetokounmpo earned his second weekly honor of the season (and 19th of his career) for the week of Nov. 21-27. He averaged 35.3 points on 61% shooting, 9.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. The Bucks went 3-1 during the week.

5 numbers

3: First-quarter points for Antetokounmpo on 0-for-3 shooting. He finished with 37 points by making 13 of his 25 shots. He was 2-for-8 from behind the three-point line, which was a season high for attempts in a game. He was also 9-for-12 from the free throw line. He fouled out with 59.7 seconds left and his team leading 103-101.

“He found a way to kind of way to will us," Budenholzer said. "He created a lot of opportunities for his teammates. He obviously got a lot of looks. He hit a couple threes. He tends to do that – he’ll find a way to get through and find his spots and be the aggressor. We needed all of it. And then his teammates were able to bring him home after he was out.”

4: Three-pointers apiece made by the Bucks and the Knicks in the first half. The teams were a combined 8-for-39 (20.5%) from behind the three-point line.

5: Straight Bucks victories over the Knicks.

11: Offensive rebounds for New York’s Mitchell Robinson, who pulled down 20 total boards. The Knicks pulled in 19 offensive rebounds as a team, resulting in 28 second-chance points.

“I mean, that was one of the more impressive efforts I’ve seen from an individual on the offensive boards,” Budenholzer said. “He was relentless. His size was just; we needed people to help more, we needed more gang rebounding. We were not good enough on the boards.

“We found a way to win but Robinson was phenomenal and our effort needed to be a little bit better. I think they beat us to a lot of 50-50 balls. They had an edge tonight and it showed tonight on offensive boards with Robinson. It was just another area where they were very good and had a competitiveness to them.”

12: Double-doubles on the season for Bobby Portis after his 10-point, 12-rebound effort. Portis has as many as Antetokounmpo, and Portis is the only non-starter in the league that has had that many to date.

Play of the game is Giannis' spin-cycle left-handed reverse

A little less than halfway through the third quarter, Antetokounmpo attacked awaiting Knicks defenders Mitchell Robinson and Quentin Grimes. Julius Randle didn't help far enough off of Portis as Antetokounmpo started his patented spin move away from Grimes and Robinson, which gave the Bucks star a path to the rim. But Robinson is one of the better interior defenders around and he stayed on Antetokounmpo's hip, which forced Antetokounmpo to flick the ball up under the rim with his left hand. The ball kissed off the glass and paused on the rim for a tick before falling in.

"Instincts. Just instincts," he said of the play. "I was trying to get downhill, he was in front of me, I spinned. I know he's a shot-blocker, I know he's going to come for my right hand and I tried to kind of use the rim to protect the ball and I was able to spin it on the other side and it went in. It was just instincts."

Video of the game is Giannis’ putback slam

In and of itself, this isn’t really a high-level Giannis Antetokounmpo highlight in that it looks like a relatively elementary offensive rebound and dunk. But, his right arm got tangled with the Knicks’ R.J. Barrett as he pulled down the rebound, and Antetokounmpo followed it up by using that right shoulder to bump Barrett out of his way. This was important because earlier in the game Antetokounmpo was knocked awkwardly on that right shoulder by Mitchell Robinson and it bothered him enough to flex it on a few possessions.

Bucks injury report

• MarJon Beauchamp (non-COVID illness), out

• Serge Ibaka (non-COVID illness), out

• Khris Middleton (wrist surgery), out

• Joe Ingles (knee surgery), out

• Sandro Mamukelashvili (G League two-way), out

Who do the Bucks play next?

For the first time since he took over the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Lakers, Former Bucks player and assistant coach Darvin Ham returns to Milwaukee for a game at 7 p.m. Friday. The Lakers, who are still led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, have struggled with injuries and poor shooting all season. But, as one might expect with a Darvin Ham-led team, the Lakers have played good defense to this point.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis Antetokounmpo scores 37; Bucks beat Knicks