Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

At the outset of Monday's game, the Milwaukee Bucks were on fire from three-point range. In the opening six minutes, the Bucks connected on 8 of 10 threes to build a quick 14-point lead and seemingly set a strong foundation.

That foundation crumbled, however, brick by brick. Instead of serving as a jumping-off point, that early barrage marked the high point of Milwaukee's night both in terms of the score and three-point shooting.

Following that strong start, the night belonged to the Charlotte Hornets, their shot-making guards and their active, switching defense that made mucked things up on the inside while quickly recovering to contest shooters.

Contested or not, Milwaukee couldn't keep its hot shooting going from the outside, going 8 of 36 (22.2 percent) after their 8 of 10 start, including Eric Bledsoe missing a deep trey at the buzzer – not a great look off a well-covered, disjointed inbound play – in a 110-107 loss at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

BOX SCORE: Hornets 110, Bucks 107

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“Credit to Charlotte, they got us in a pretty big hole after a good start by us," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "Then it just flipped. For 2 1/2 quarters we were not able to match them. Proud of the group for finding a way to fight back. We had a bunch of chances late, just couldn’t quite convert.”

Milwaukee, which struggled to get two-point baskets to fall for much of the game, had a hard time handling Charlotte's defense, which was aggressively packing the paint in an effort to curb the impact of Eastern Conference Player of the Week Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Bucks.

That strategy was especially fruitful in the second quarter when employed by the Hornets' small-ball unit – a group that flummoxed the Bucks in the season opener as well – holding the Bucks to just 17 points as well as 9 of 25 on two-point shots overall in the first half.

“They really swarmed the paint, swarmed the ball," Budenholzer said. "I think we need to continue to attack, we maybe need to pass more, be stronger. They were getting a lot of strips. A lot of times where I think we just need to be stronger with the ball.”

With the three-pointers drying up and inside buckets hard to come by, the Bucks went from 14 points up at their peak to 13 down at halftime. That margin grew to 25 in the third quarter as Charlotte, led by 21 points each from Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb, opened the second half on a 12-0 run to take a 77-52 advantage.

But the Bucks rallied. It started with their defense, which for a rare occasion this season began switching during the third quarter. The change came as Budenholzer tried to change things up, especially with both teams going small.

Though the Bucks haven't been asked to switch often in games this season, the change worked. They communicated well and forced the Hornets into some tougher looks than they had gotten earlier in the game.

“I thought we did well," Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon said of switching. "So far this season, I think we’ve adjusted to the adjustments Coach Bud has made. I think we’ve done a good job of making adjustments on the quick.”

Ratcheting the intensity up on defense – along with Antetokounmpo scoring 9 of his 20 points in the third quarter – helped the Bucks get the game back to within 13 heading into the final quarter.

Buoyed by their defense as well as the contributions of Pat Connaughton, who had 15 points off the bench, and Donte DiVincenzo, who returned to action following a five-game layoff due to a left quadriceps strain, the Bucks continued their surge in the fourth.

Connaughton scored 10 of his points in the final period, including a three-pointer and a powerful left-handed put-back slam on back-to-back possessions to bring the Bucks within eight points – their first single-digit deficit of the half – with 7 minutes 22 seconds to go. DiVincenzo, who had eight points in 11 second-half minutes, got the Bucks within a possession at 101-98 with a quick-trigger three-pointer with just over three minutes remaining.

"It felt really good getting back out there," DiVincenzo said. "That week and a half felt like a month."

The three-pointer and dunk by Connaughton marked the start of a 9-0 run that got the Bucks within four. But that's when veteran guard Tony Parker came up with a pair of critical buckets. Parker, who finished with 15 points, knocked down a midrange shot then worked into the paint for a floater to push the Hornets' margin back to eight.

Charlotte's lead was four with a minute and a half to go when the Bucks ran into an awkward, unfortunately-timed cold spell. Bledsoe missed a three-pointer, but the Bucks kept possession as the rebound went out of bounds. Then, on the inbound after a replay delay, Connaughton was way off on a three-pointer.

Bledsoe, who had 17 points, made up for his miss by making a steal. He got the ball on the break and fed Connaughton, who missed a point-blank look. He got his own rebound and got the ball to Khris Middleton, who then missed an open three from the top of the key. Middleton netted 3 three-pointers in the first quarter but then went cold, finishing 3 of 12 from three-point range and 4 of 18 overall in a 14-point, nine-rebound, five-turnover performance.

Still, the Bucks continued to push. Antetokounmpo, who had 13 rebounds and nine assists to go with his 20 points, came up with a steal that led to another Middleton three-point attempt that was off the mark. Antetokounmpo nearly put back the rebound, but that, too, went off the iron before Antetokounmpo committed a foul on Walker.

Milwaukee ultimately got within one on a Connaughton three and an Antetokounmpo dunk before Walker sank a pair of free throws with 7.1 seconds left. That set up the Bucks' final possession, where no one was able to shake free for a three, ending with Middleton offloading to Bledsoe for a 37-footer that bounced harmlessly off the backboard and rim.

On a night the Bucks started by making 8 of 10 three-pointers, they finished 4 of 16 in the fourth quarter, including going 1 of 6 in the final 90 seconds.

In addition to Middleton's long-range issues, the Bucks couldn't get enough connections from two of their other more consistent three-point shooting. Brook Lopez knocked one down early, but finished 1 of 4 in a 15-point performance, doing a good chunk of his scoring off the dribble. Brogdon had an even rougher go of it offensively, going 4 of 16 from the field overall and 1 of 6 on three-pointers.

“We’re a talented team, we’ve played really well up to this point, but we’ve just got to be consistent," Brogdon said. "Tonight we didn’t have a slow start like we’ve been having, but we let them back into the game and then we dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t really climb out of.”