"It's a good tactic" - Adrian Griffin says Mike Brown's ejection sparked Sacramento's rally

Coach Griff says resiliency pulled Milwaukee through.

© Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Bucks escaped with an epic win on Sunday night, but they had to endure some anxious moments before edging out the Sacramento Kings in overtime, 143-142.

Damian Lillard was the hero in the win as he sank a buzzer-beating triple that saved the Bucks from what could have been an embarrassing defeat after failing to protect a five-point lead with only 50 seconds left in regulation.

Milwaukee could have avoided going through some tense moments if only they were able to protect a 110-98 lead in the final 8:18 of regulation.

Brown’s ejection sparked Sacramento

Sacramento was able to charge back, and for Milwaukee coach Adrian Griffin, the ejection of Kings coach Mike Brown sparked the comeback.

“Mike got thrown out. It’s a good tactic because his team rallied. That happens a lot of times. The coach made a stand for whatever reason, and his team rallied around, and they got it back in the game,” Griffin said.

Brown was ejected at the 9:27 mark of the fourth period, and the Bucks were ahead by 10, 105-95.

Brown had to be restrained by his players after he stormed the court to confront referee Intae Hwang.

Mike’s beef with the refs

Mike was irate that no whistle was blown after Cameron Payne tried to swipe the ball from De’Aaron Fox, whose pass was stolen by Malik Beasley.

In the post-game press briefing, they brought out a laptop and showed reporters a play where De’Aaron was slapped with a foul that awarded Damian Lillard with three free throws.

Another play that Brown complained about was the non-call on Brook Lopez, who met a driving Malik Monk. Mike complained that Lopez may have been vertical when he met Monk mid-air, but one of Brook’s hands was on Malik's body.

Brown was also aghast that Milwaukee was given 19 free throws in the first half while the Kings only had five.

“The referees are human, and they’re going to make mistakes, but you just hope that there’s some sort of consistency and there’s some sort of communication between the refs,” Brown said. “The refs tonight, they were great, they communicated with me all night. But in terms of consistency, you guys saw it right here. In my opinion, the consistency wasn’t here tonight.”

Brown’s ejections certainly lit a fire under the Kings, who fought back to force overtime and could have stolen the win had they made some crucial free throws in the extension period.

Sacramento may have drawn inspiration from Brown's ejection, but Griffin said his wards’ resilience could not be denied.

“I think our team was the more resilient tonight, and I thought we proved that,” Griffin said.

What we learned from the Milwaukee Bucks' pulsating win over the Sacramento Kings