Giannis, Bucks dominate Warriors in blowout 118-99 victory

The Golden State Warriors turned in their worst performance of the season on Tuesday, falling 120-75 to the Milwaukee Bucks in a start-to-finish blowout. The Dubs are still 30-11. So Golden State still has that going for them. But otherwise, Tuesday was a bad day in Warriorland. On top of the blowout loss, Gary Payton II left the game after playing less than five minutes. He was ruled out with lower back tightness.

From tipoff on, the Bucks seemed more energized and put together on both sides of the ball than Golden State. Milwaukee jumped out to a 24-16 lead, and it already felt like they should be up by twice that margin. This year, there have been several games where the Warriors have kept the score close despite ugly starts and fought back to make things competitive.

That was not the case on Thursday.

Milwaukee finished the first quarter on a 13-5 run before outscoring the Dubs 40-17 in the second quarter. However, the Bucks had doubled up the Warriors by halftime, leading 77-38, and the result had already been decided.

Without Draymond Green, the Warriors seemed even more ill-prepared than usual to deal with Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks star recorded 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, but he was far from the only Milwaukee player to stand out. Bobby Portis and Khris Middleton scored at least 20 points each on better than 50% shooting from three. Grayson Allen and Wesley Matthews also combined to shoot 5-for-10 from three.

Warriors star Stephen Curry was once again limited offensively, forced to defer on most possessions, and unable to convert the few opportunities he did receive. He finished 4-for-11 from the field (2-for-6 from three) with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Andrew Wiggins was the only Dubs player that scored more than 12 points before garbage time started, and his 16 was far from enough to keep things close. With head coach Steve Kerr bringing most of his key rotation players to the bench by the end of the third quarter, rookie Jonathan Kuminga received some extended playing time. He finished 5-for-14 from the field with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and added a steal in 19 minutes of action.

No postgame Twitch stream tonight. But Marc will be back tomorrow after the Dubs take on the Bulls. So make sure to follow on Twitch to get notifications about when he goes live.