by Jerry Feitelberg

Oakland- The Golden State Warriors were without the services of Draymond Green and Shaun Livingston Thursday night when they hosted the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks, coached by Mike Budenholzer, stopped the Warriors and snapped Golden State’s eight-game winning streak as they pounded the Warriors 131-111.

The Bucks’ defense stifled two of the Warriors leading scorers, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Neither one of the Warriors’ stars could get into any kind of a rhythm. Steph tallied just 10 points in the game and left late in the third quarter with a left adductor strain. Durant struggles all night as the Bucks doubled and triple-teamed him. Durant finished with seventeen.

The Warriors held their own with Milwaukee for most of the first quarter. The Warriors were leading 23-19 until the Bucks went on an 11-1 run to take a 30-24 advantage. The Warriors never regained the lead. The Bucks finished the quarter leading 32-29.

In the second quarter, Milwaukee’s defense took over as they outscored the Warriors by ten 32-22 to finish the first half with a thirteen-point lead 64-51. Buck’s guard Eric Bledsoe was hot as he scored twelve points. Pat Connaughton, coming off the bench tallied 13. Kris Middleton had 10, and Giannis Antetokounmpo knocked down 19 and had 7 boards and 3 assists.

The Bucks continued the onslaught in the third quarter as they put the game out of reach. They outscored the Warriors and won the quarter 41-28. Curry, as mentioned above, left the game with a groin strain. Warriors’ head coach inserted his bench player for the fourth quarter, Warriors’ guard, Quinn Cook, put 15 points on the board in the quarter but they could not overcome the huge deficit they faced.

Game Notes and stats.

With the win, Milwaukee improved to 9–2 and the Warriors dropped to 10-2.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 24. KD 17, Jones 12, and Steph had 10.

Milwaukee was led by Eric Bledsoe with a season-high 26 points. Milwaukee’s other guard, Malcolm Brogden, had 20. Kris Middleton finished with 17, and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 24.

Milwaukee outrebounded the Warriors 46-36. The Had more assists 33-31. The had more steals and blocks, and they committed 12 turnovers. The Warriors turned the ball over 18 times.

The Warriors host the Brooklyn Nets at Oracle Arena Saturday night at Oracle Arena. Game time is at 5:30 pm.