Bucks smoke depleted Mavs, 137-107, as Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo dominate

The Dallas Mavericks hit the road to play the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, a rematch after these teams just played in Dallas on Saturday. The Bucks won that matchup, and Dallas already looks vastly different than they did in that game. Kyrie Irving tore his ACL and Jaden Hardy sprained his ankle on Monday night, adding to a lengthy injury report.

It might be easier to list who actually was available for the Mavericks, but here's who they were missing: Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Dante Exum, Jaden Hardy, Caleb Martin, and Kai Jones.

With that many players out, Dallas started Spencer Dinwiddie, Max Christie, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Dwight Powell, the 33rd different starting lineup of the season. Milwaukee started Damian Lillard, Taurean Prince, Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Brook Lopez.

It was an admirable start for the depleted Mavericks. Despite Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard combining for Milwaukee's first 20 points, Dallas was hanging around thanks to 9 early points from Klay Thompson. But after the game was tied at 16, Milwaukee went on an 18-3 run to take a stranglehold of the game.

Dallas scored six straight points to get the lead back to 10, but they couldn't get any stops. Kyle Kuzma scored the last seven points of the half for Milwaukee, and they'd take a 43-30 lead into the second quarter.

Max Christie and Brandon Williams helped bring Milwaukee's advantage down to six again, but then the Bucks reinserted Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard and took off again. Those two continued to terrorize the Mavericks, shooting the ball very efficiently and spreading the ball around to open shooters, allowing the Bucks to shoot 63% from the floor in the first half.

Giannis had 26 points and Damian Lillard had 20, allowing the Bucks to take a 72-53 lead into halftime. Dallas' offense was playing fine, but they had no rim protection against a team you desperately need it.

The third quarter was more of the same, as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard continued to torch the Mavs. Giannis crossed the 20,000 career points mark in the third quarter, but he and Lillard crossed 30 points for the game before the end of the third quarter as the Bucks crossed the century mark with three minutes to go in the frame.

Dallas was still scoring somewhat, as Naji Marshall scored nine points in a row before the end of the quarter, but Milwaukee still had a 106-79 lead heading into the fourth.

There wouldn't be any unnecessary drama in the fourth quarter, as the Bucks emptied the bench, and went on to win 137-107.

Klay Thompson led the Mavericks with 28 points, but he attempted a season-high 27 shots to get there. Naji Marshall (22 points, 10 rebounds, a few of those points came well into garbage time), Brandon Williams (14 points), and Max Christie (13 points) were also in double figures.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard were incredible for the Bucks, with Giannis putting up 32 points and 15 rebounds on 13/20 shooting, and Lillard had 34 points on 11/15 shooting, including 5/8 from three. Kevin Porter Jr. had a triple-double off the bench, which made me have to triple-check the stat sheet, finishing with 10 points, 14 assists, and 11 rebounds. AJ Green (18 points, 6/9 three-point shooting), Kyle Kuzma (17 points), and Jericho Sims (10 points) were also in double figures.

Dallas returns home to play the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.