Sunday’s contest between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Sacramento Kings was an absolute nail-biter. Neither team was willing to give in, which resulted in the game requiring an extra period to decide a winner.
In the end, thanks to Damian Lillard’s heroic game-winner, it was Milwaukee who prevailed in overtime 143-142.
Milwaukee Bucks Coach Adrian Griffin’s Controversial Decision
The Kings deserve a ton of credit for even forcing this game to overtime. The Bucks were up by five points with less than a minute remaining, and it seemed like they were going to coast to victory.
Sacramento had other ideas, though.
With 11.7 seconds remaining and the Bucks up 127-124, the Kings had a chance to tie the game with a trey. Milwaukee head coach Adrian Griffin, however, opted to foul to send Sacramento to the line instead of giving the opposition an opportunity to take a 3-pointer.
This decision ended costing Milwaukee, though, with De’Aaron Fox eventually scoring a deuce to tie the game with a second remaining:
DE'AARON FOX CLUTCH.
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 15, 2024
After the game, Griffin spoke out about his decision to foul the Kings with 11.7 seconds remaining, which resulted in Malik Monk draining both of his free throws to cut the deficit to just one point:
“We didn’t want to take any chances of them alluding us and getting a three,” Griffin said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “So we said, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do.’ We just stick to it together. All the coaching staff was in agreement. The players were in agreement. So, I’d do that again 10 times out of 10. We’re up three. We foul.”
Needless to say, Coach Griff has no regrets over his tough call.
Dame Saves the Day
Thankfully for Griffin and the Bucks, Dame Lillard ended up saving the day for them in the dying seconds of overtime with a truly epic last-second game-winner. We would probably be talking about Griffin’s decision in a different light if Lillard’s shot had not hit the bottom of the net.
Instead, we have Coach Griff talking about the character-building win:
“These type of games bring our team even closer,” Griffin said. “And I thought the last two games we’re starting to find our identity, how hard we have to compete.”
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