Bucks 127, Hornets 125: Giannis hits winner to push winning streak to eight

During their winning streak, the Milwaukee Bucks haven't really been challenged much.

They finally got a battle on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Facing another high-powered offense and a tense, back-and-forth finish, the Bucks came through with a 127-125 victory over the Charlotte Hornets for their eighth straight victory.

BOX SCORE: Bucks 127, Hornets 125

There were several highly skilled, clutch shots. But none more so than Giannis Antetokounmpo's winner.

After calling a timeout, Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer had 5.9 seconds to draw up a play. The floor was spaced to give Antetokounmpo a long runway to the basket. He drove hard against the Hornets' P.J. Washington, then smoothly kissed the ball in the hoop off the bottom of the glass with his right hand on the left side of the basket with two seconds remaining.

That gave the two-time MVP 40 points to go along with 12 rebounds and nine assists.

"I knew in the position that I was there was two different routes," Antetokounmpo said. "Throw a floater up or try to sneak it in. And when you try to sneak it in, you got to put spin. If you just go normal, most likely you're going to get blocked. So you got to be sneaky with it."

Befitting the wild final minutes, the Hornets' Miles Bridges had a long heave at the buzzer that rimmed out.

There were many big shots down the stretch that fell.

Before Antetokounmpo's layup, the Hornets' LaMelo Ball hit a deep three to tie the game. Charlotte was coming out of a timeout and the Bucks had talked about their defensive plan.

"Guard them," Budenholzer said. "Make them make a tough shot. Don't foul a three-point shooter. Don't go for a pump fake. He basically caught it and went right into a shot."

The dynamic young guard piled up 36 points and nine assists.

In the final 4:05, the Bucks' Khris Middleton hit 2 three-pointers that gave the Bucks leads, including one with 52.5 seconds left, and also went 3 for 3 from the free-throw line. He finished with 21 points.

"Just trusting the work that I put in working on my game," Middleton said. "I started off slow. Really the whole game. Didn't get anything to go, but I liked the shots that I took. It's just about making them now.

"It was good to get going a little bit in the second half and I hit that last three, that was a big confidence boost for myself."

Bucks players and coaches are used to Middleton's unflappable demeanor when the stakes are high.

"He's got incredible poise late in games and making big shots," Budenholzer said.

The Bucks had to fight their way back after the Hornets came out scorching hot from deep, making 10 of 17 three-pointers in the first quarter. That tied the New York Knicks for the most triples made in a quarter this season. It was the third time in franchise history that Charlotte made 10 threes in a quarter.

Milwaukee finally grabbed its first lead at 91-90 when George Hill completed a three-point play at the 2:26 mark of the third quarter. The game was tight the rest of the way.

DeMarcus Cousins, the veteran 6-foot-10 center officially signed by the Bucks on Tuesday, made his debut for the team at the start of the second quarter.

He scored his first points when he burrowed deep into the paint and dropped an easy layup in the final minute of the first half. Cousins also found Grayson Allen for a corner three-pointer with a nice pass and Allen later returned the favor for a triple by Cousins.

Cousins played 15 minutes, scoring seven points on 3-for-5 shooting and pulling down four rebounds.

"We were pretty much coaching him through plays on the fly out there," Allen said. "At the end of the day, it's just playing basketball. He knows how to play. He knows how to hoop. We know what he can do and he knows how to make the right play."

The Bucks are 10-0 this season when Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Jrue Holiday (11 points, seven assists) play together.

"I think our defense has gotten a lot better," Allen said. "I think we're a lot more active off the ball. They shot incredibly tonight. Not much you can do about that. But, overall, the seven games before that, I think our defense has been our strong suit."

Milwaukee had won its previous four games by an average margin of 20.3 points.

"Everybody will say this around the league, you want all your guys to be healthy to give yourself a better chance to win," Middleton said. "So far, we've been banged up, still got a couple guys missing.

"With the group we have right now, I think we're playing well. I think we're trending toward the right direction right now, which is great. Eventually we're going to go through some things as far as maybe losing or whatnot. But that's all part of it. Just got to learn from the wins, learn from the losses, keep it going one step in front of the other."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks beat Charlotte Hornets at Fiserv Forum, 127-125