Khris Middleton wants the Milwaukee Bucks to "own it and learn from it" after another painful defeat again highlighted their struggles without Jrue Holiday.
Going down 121-114 to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday meant the Bucks have lost four of their last five games.
Middleton's 34 points, and 27 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, could not propel Milwaukee to victory as they conceded 38 points in the fourth quarter.
The team's ball handling in Holiday's six-game absence has often not been clever, and the sooner the starting point guard returns, the better for the Bucks.
The Bucks have a 4-9 record when Holiday has been absent from the team this season, and his latest absence has been them slide to 27-19 for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Sidelined by ankle soreness and COVID-19 protocols, Holiday also missed the win over the Brooklyn Nets that preceded the slide. Before that, he was showing exemplary form, averaging 23.9 points and 7.9 assists in his most recent 10 games, way above his season averages which now stand at 18.4 points and 6.7 assists.
"I've been playing with Giannis for years, so I know his spots where he wants the ball, how to get it to him, but Jrue adds another layer of that, where he's able to attack and get other guys going, including Giannis," Middleton said.
"I don't think it's on me to get Giannis going. I feel like Giannis gets himself going for the most part. Every now and then, I feel like I'm able to get him an easy one, but same thing with Jrue.
"We're just missing an extra playmaker, extra scorer, extra defender, an extra player out there."
Antetokounmpo had eight-of-20 shooting from the field in Monday's setback, and managed just six rebounds. Only once this season has he had fewer rebounds.
The Greek superstar leads the team with averages of 28.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and a field-goal percentage of 53.5 per cent, but there are nights when he cannot make a match-winning difference.
Middleton said the Hawks game "was a tough one to drop", and now the Bucks must regroup for a tussle with the 31-15 Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
"We need to find a way to be smarter, be better," Middleton said. "Just gotta own it, learn from it, try to be better."
Coach Mike Budenholzer struck a similar tone, saying the reigning NBA champions have "a lot of areas where we need to be significantly better", adding: "We need more from everybody."
Ingram: Pels proved they can beat the best by downing the Clippers
Brandon Ingram said the New Orleans Pelicans proved they can contend with the best in the NBA as he continued his hot streak to earn a huge win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Ingram scored 25 points or more for the ninth straight outing, putting up 36 in a 122-114 victory that leaves the Pelicans just one game back of the sixth-placed Clippers in the West.
Getting into the top six would mean the Pelicans avoid the play-in tournament in the playoffs.
"If you want to be the best, you've got to go against the best and you've got to beat them," Ingram said.
"That's one of the things that was in my head tonight, just trying to get this win."
Asked about his impressive form, Ingram said: "It's just manoeuvring a little bit, seeing what's open, seeing what spot I can get to on the floor, not forcing the game.
"That’s the biggest thing – seeing what's the best shot for the team, but also making sure that I stay aggressive."
Team-mates CJ McCollum and Trey Murphy III put up 19 apiece, and the former paid tribute to Ingram's ability to make the clutch shots in key moments.
"Those are I'm-just-better-than-you shots," McCollum said.
"He's relying on his skill set and his comfort level. Regardless of analytics and what's considered a good shot, that's a great shot for him."
Kawhi Leonard put up 40 points for the Clippers, who have now lost back-to-back games.
"We just have to give credit to them as they played amazing. Ingram played great," Leonard said.
A win is a win – Butler relieved to end losing streak as Heat boost playoff prospects
Jimmy Butler said the win is all that matters as the Miami Heat boosted their playoffs standing, while simultaneously damaging the Dallas Mavericks' own postseason hopes.
The Heat entered Saturday's contest with a three-game losing streak, but fought for a 129-122 victory at the FTX Arena.
That was despite the slumping Mavericks shooting at 61 per cent, marking only the second time the franchise has ever lost when shooting at least 60 per cent including the playoffs (30-2 all time).
Butler led the way with 35 points and 12 assists, while Cody Zeller (20 points), Kevin Love, Max Strus (both 18) and Tyler Herro (15) all contributed.
The Heat are seventh in the East, have a three-game buffer over the Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot, and are only a game back of the Brooklyn Nets in sixth to avoid the play-in altogether – although, due to a superior head-to-head record, the Nets only need to go 3-2 at the end of the season to hold on.
After the game Butler, said: "A win is a win.
"I don't like the fact that they shot 61 per cent, but I do like the fact that we finally won a game."
Head coach Erik Spoelstra added: "I wouldn't necessarily have drawn it up this way."
The Mavericks, like the Heat, made the Conference Finals last season but find themselves in a real battle just to make the postseason this time around.
Defeat leaves them 11th in the West, one game back of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Luka Doncic was once again impressive with 42 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, with Tim Hardaway Jr (31) and Kyrie Irving (23) adding heftily to the tally.
But head coach Jason Kidd was not impressed with his team's performance at the other end of the court.
"Our defense was non-existent. Couldn't get stops," he said.
Hardaway Jr tried to rally his teammates, saying: "[We've] just got to play hard, play with desperation and anything can happen. Anything can happen."
St Louis' perfect start ended by Minnesota, Bernardeschi nets Olimpico for Toronto
Expansion franchise St Louis City's perfect start to their inaugural MLS season was ended by Minnesota United who triumphed 1-0 after Luis Amarilla's 78th-minute penalty on Saturday.
City had made MLS history by winning their first five games but that was ended by the Loons with Amarilla drilling home the spot kick after a needless challenge by Kyle Hiebert.
Hiebert brought down Amarilla just inside the box with a rash tackle when Jakob Nerwinski appeared to have Kervin Arriaga's wayward pass under control.
Substitute Samuel Adeniran came closest to equalising for St Louis, with a 95th-minute shot going over the bar after a great first touch from Klauss' right-wing cut back.
St Louis remain top of the table with 15 points from six games, but unbeaten Minnesota climb up to fourth in the Western Conference.
Cincinnati continued their impressive start to the season with a 1-0 home triumph over Inter Miami who slumped to their fourth straight defeat.
Yerson Mosquera scored the 45th-minute winner for Cincy, who are top of the Eastern Conference.
Giorgos Giakoumakis scored an early winner as Atlanta United moved up to second in the East with a 1-0 home win over New York Red Bulls, who are down in 12th in that conference.
Jordan Morris and Leo Chu scored first-half goals as Seattle Sounders stayed second in the West with a 2-1 victory at LA Galaxy, who are without a win and have only three points from five games.
LAFC remained unbeaten and third in the West despite a 0-0 draw at the winless Colorado Rapids, while SJ Earthquakes climbed to fifth with a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo with all three goals coming from penalties.
Vancouver Whitecaps snapped a run of three straight draws with a resounding 5-0 win over 10-man Montreal with Simon Becher scoring a double. Becher is the fastest player (87 minutes) in MLS history to score his first four goals.
Franck Boli rescued a 1-1 draw for Portland Timbers at Dallas, Chicago Fire and DC United drew 0-0 and Nashville triumphed 2-0 at Orlando City.
Federico Bernardeschi netted another spectacular goal with a strike straight from a corner in Toronto's 2-2 home draw with Charlotte.
Sporting KC remained winless after a 0-0 draw at Philadelphia Union, New England drew 1-1 with New York City and Real Salt Lake suffered their fourth straight loss, going down 4-0 to Columbus Crew.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
