Bucks Zone

Brook Lopez credits Pat Connaughton for stepping up in crunch time against the Dallas Mavericks

Connaughton had his moments in the big game against the Mavericks.

Jonas Panerio

© Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports
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While the superstars of the Milwaukee Bucks and the Dallas Mavericks hogged the spotlight during their game on Saturday night, reserve forward Pat Connaughton quietly made some critical plays down the stretch that allowed his team to squeak out a victory.

Brook Lopez, who also made several crucial plays of his own in the Bucks’ 132-125 win, pointed at Connaughton’s clutch performance when asked about the win.

“Pat’s a pretty impressive physical specimen, so I don’t to discount him too much, but that was very impressive,” Lopez said of Connaughton, who had 16 points, five boards, three assists, two steals in a whopping 35 minutes off the bench.

Did his job and more

After getting off to a slow start this season, the former Notre Dame star has picked his game up of late, but none more so than versus the Mavericks. With Mavericks superstars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving coming to town, Connaughton was asked to defend both at times, and he did his job and more.

“He definitely did what he could, did his job, made it tough for Kyrie and Luka, was running around, jumping, blocking shots, getting rebounds the way he does, falling on the floor and still had the energy and composure to catch-high and keep-high and knock those threes down the way he does,” Lopez added of the two clutch three-pointers that Connaughton made down the stretch to give the Bucks some much-needed separation.

Unselfish stars

Bucks coach Adrian Griffin also credited his stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard for making the right reads on the plays that allowed Connaughton to knock down the crucial treys, saying that while some stars tend to hold onto the ball and not make the right pass, Lillard was able to do that on both of those plays.

“Those two guys, they demand and command a lot of attention, and rightly so, and to their credit, they were able to get off of it,” Griffin said.

“Some superstars are not like that. They want to take those shots regardless if they have two or three people on them hanging on them. I thought it was just high-character basketball from Giannis and Dame.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo sets NBA record in the win versus the Dallas Mavericks

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Jonas Panerio
JONAS PANERIO