PORTLAND, OR – The Milwaukee Bucks lost for the 12th time in their last 15 games with a 130-99 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on March 25 at the Moda Center.
The loss to Portland was the 18th time the Bucks scored 100 or fewer points and 14th time they didn’t reach triple digits. During their current skid, which began on Feb. 27 with a loss to New York, the Bucks haven’t reached the century mark on offense eight times.
Ryan Rollins led the Bucks with a career-high 36 points on 13-of-26 shooting. Rollins scored 31 points on two occasions earlier in the year.
“You can take something good from everything,” Rollins said. “So I mean yeah, just going against some of the top defenders in the league that are very aggressive, just finding ways to keep playing through that and keep my head in some situations where I feel like they’re getting away with some grabs and holds or whatever the case may be. Just a learning experience. Everything win, lose, draw, you could take something from.”
Rollins played 31 minutes, including the entire third quarter, and added four assists and four rebounds.
“Credit to him – he puts in a lot of work, every day honestly, whether it’s a practice day or a shootaround day,” Bucks forward Taurean Prince said of his teammate’s big night. “He’s always one of the guys working. So, not a surprise for me. It’s good to see his growth, through different coverages and different things they’re throwing at him. For him to be able to handle that, it’s impressive.”
BOX SCORE: Trail Blazers 130, Bucks 99
Ousmane Dieng added 16 points while Jericho Sims had 12. Taurean Prince scored 13 off the bench for Milwaukee, which suited up 10 players.
“Of all the games you needed shooting bigs, this was the game,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. “We had thought we were going to have Myles [Turner] and Bobby [Portis Jr.] tonight to try to take the big fella [Portland center Donovan Clingan] out of the paint, which would have took all the top-locking away. Right when we lost that, we knew what was coming as far as the physicality. They’re already a great defensive team.”
The game was effectively over after the first quarter when the Trail Blazers took a 42-27 lead thanks to an 8-for-13 (61%) mark from behind the 3-point line and going 11 for 13 from the free throw line.
Milwaukee shot the ball well (52% overall, 50% from behind the 3-point line) but turned it over seven times, leading to eight Trail Blazers points. Portland led by as many as 25 in second quarter and finished the half with more offensive rebounds (10) than Milwaukee had total boards (nine).
Portland (37-37) clinched a spot in the Western Conference play-in. Former Bucks guard Jrue Holiday had 13 points, eight assists and five rebounds to lead the Trail Blazers, who had six players reach double figures before the starters were pulled.
The 31-point loss for the Bucks was the team’s 11th by at least 25 points, adding to its franchise record for blowout defeats by that margin.
In the 58-year history of the franchise, spanning 4,679 games, the Bucks have suffered six of its top 50 worst defeats this season:
The worst loss the franchise ever suffered was by 54 points to Chicago on April 30, 2015.
Ryan Rollins strong in leading-man role
With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Porter Jr. sidelined for the better part of the month of March with knee issues, guard Ryan Rollins has looked more comfortable in a “leading man” role over his last eight games.
Rollins came into the Portland game averaging 18.1 points and 6.9 assists in eight contests from March 10-23. He shot 54% overall and 43.8% from behind the 3-point line.
After a strong surprising start to the season (16.9 points, 5.4 assists) filling in for Porter the first 14 games, Rollins hit a bit of a wall once he became more of a focal point for defenses as Antetokounmpo began to miss more time. In a 27-game stretch in the heart of the season, Rollins’ shooting dipped to 43% overall and 36% from behind the 3-point line while he averaged 15.9 points and 5.6 assists.
But the extended playing time and more experience has allowed Rollins to learn, react and bounce back as the best player on a team. Through his first 58 games of the season, Rollins had two double-doubles – but he had recorded four in his last 11 heading into the game at the Moda Center.
The game against the Trail Blazers was another night to learn, though, as Rollins was matched up against two of the best perimeter players in the NBA in Trail Blazers defenders Toumani Camara and Jrue Holiday. Then, on the defensive side, Rollins was tasked with defending all-star Deni Avdija.
“It’s tiring, but it’s part of the game,” Rollins said. “We go against teams that have all-stars. It’s the NBA, so you just gotta be up for the challenge.”
In a tough first half, Rollins was just 3-for-11 from the floor for 11 points. He had two assists against three turnovers as the Trail Blazers focused on keeping him contained. Rollins then played the entire third quarter and was able to find some breathing room with his shot, going 7 for 11 for 17 points.
“Just kept playing, I had a couple early fouls, couple bad calls I think, but stayed in the game, kept my mental, kept being aggressive,” Rollins said of the third quarter.
For the season, Rollins came into the game averaging 16.8 points per game, an increase of 10.6 from last season. He is pacing toward setting a franchise record in one-season scoring improvement, which was set by guard Erick Murdock in 1992-93 when he averaged 10.3 more points per game than the year before.
League-wide, Rollins is behind Atlanta’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker (plus- 11) for largest scoring leap from last season.
Did you notice?
Bucks guard AJ Green played 16:01 consecutive minutes spanning the second, third and fourth quarters. He checked in for the final 25.7 seconds of the second quarter, played the entire third quarter and the opening 3:36 of the fourth.
Andre Jackson Jr. rediscovered
It feels like a lifetime ago, but Bucks guard Andre Jackson Jr. once started 41 straight games during the 2024-25 season when the team went 24-16, a record that does not include an impressive stint guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the team’s NBA Cup-winning game.
Jackson was not a dynamic scorer, but as time went on in that stretch he (and his teammates) began to find a rhythm with what he could do, which was create off the dribble, make smart decisions with passes and be a creative cutter. Defensively, the only real question was if he could tone down the aggressiveness enough to limit his fouls, and even that gradually improved the longer he played.
But after the 2025 all-star break, and following the team’s acquisition of Kevin Porter Jr., Jackson was a forgotten man. He appeared in just 16 games down the stretch, logging just under six minutes on average, mostly in mop-up duty.
He was one of the last players to make the team out of training camp this season, and was never really an option for the team even as it experienced defensive and ball handling issues due to injury and ineffectiveness. Jackson played in 37 of the team’s first 69 games, again at 5.9 minutes per contest, and mostly in late-game situations.
But with the team sitting many players due to injuries over the last two games of its four-game swing through the Western Conference, Jackson played a season high 16:11 against Los Angeles on March 23. He had six assists and four rebounds in a blowout loss to the Clippers, but was a bright spot as the Bucks outscored the Clippers by 6.7 points when he was on the floor.
After the game, Rivers noted how that group moved the ball offensively and added, “I thought ‘Dre was fantastic tonight with the way he passed the ball. So again, every night we have all these guys out, moving guys around, it’s been one of those rough years and we keep looking for someone. ‘Dre tonight.
“Maybe we can start using him at that position. We don’t have a lot of ball handling, guys.”
Against Portland, Jackson logged 13 minutes first half minutes, didn’t play in the third quarter, and then played about eight in the fourth. He finished with eight points, four steals, three rebounds and an assist.
5 numbers
13.9: Percent chance the Bucks had at winning a top four pick in the NBA draft lottery heading into the game, per the lottery tracking web site www.tankathon.com.
26.3: Percent chance the New Orleans Pelicans had at winning a top four pick in the NBA draft lottery heading into action March 25, per the lottery tracking web site www.tankathon.com.
Should the Bucks end up with a lower pick in the draft than the Pelicans, New Orleans will swap for the better position as a remnant of the 2020 Jrue Holiday trade. Atlanta will be the ultimate beneficiary, however, as they acquired the rights to the pick from New Orleans due to a 2025 draft-day trade.
34.5 and 32.1: Percent chances the Pelicans had at drawing the No. 8 and No. 9 picks in the draft lottery heading into the game, via www.tankathon.com.
65.9: Percent chance the Bucks had at drawing the 10th pick in the draft lottery heading into the game, via www.tankathon.com. Heading into the contest with Portland, Milwaukee owned the 10th-worst record in the league, percentage points ahead of Chicago (29-43).
30: Different starting lineups the Bucks have rolled out this season after starting Pete Nance with Jericho Sims, Ousmane Dieng, AJ Green and Ryan Rollins.
Is Giannis playing?
No.
The Bucks ruled the star out for the fifth straight game after he hyperextended his knee and suffered a bone bruise on March 15. Antetokounmpo has made it known he wants to play, and on March 24 the NBPA issued a statement declaring that the league should enforce its own policies about star players suiting up under the player participation policy.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said Antetokounmpo is not able to play.
“He’s progressing, but he’s just not healthy,” Rivers said.
What is the Bucks record without Giannis?
12-24.
The team is 17-19 when he plays at all, and 2-2 when he has exited with injury.
Milwaukee Bucks injury report
Bucks starters
What time is the Bucks game?
It’s a late start in Portland, with tip of scheduled for 9 p.m. CT.
What channel is the Bucks game on?
The game will be broadcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin with Lisa Byington, Marques Johnson and Melanie Ricks on the call.
Bucks vs. Blazers odds
Portland is a 12.5-point favorite over Milwaukee, with the over/under set at 226.5 points per BetMGM.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks lose 130-99 to Trail Blazers, Ryan Rollins scores career high
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
