Milwaukee, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Brandon Knight's 3-point play with just 1.1 seconds remaining sent the Memphis Grizzlies to their first loss of the season, a 93-92 setback to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.
The Grizzlies missed only three of 34 free-throw attempts on the night, but one of those misfires proved costly. At the line with his team clinging to a 91-90 lead with 8.2 seconds left, Mike Conley made just one of his two shots to give Milwaukee a chance for a tie or win.
Knight took the ball out of a timeout, surveyed the scene and blew past Marc Gasol and into the lane. His one-hander dropped in while being hit from behind by Courtney Lee, then promptly sank the bonus try for the deciding point.
Knight finished with 14 points and six assists and Giannis Antetokounmpo tallied a career-high 18 points off the bench for the Bucks, who rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to halt a two-game losing streak.
"They're going to be great," Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger said of the Bucks. "I love their attitude."
Zach Randolph amassed 22 points and 14 rebounds in Memphis' first defeat after a franchise-best 6-0 start. Gasol added 18 points, but the Grizzlies shot a poor 35.4 percent as a team on the evening.
The Grizzlies appeared on the way to another win after two Quincy Pondexter free throws put them up 72-64 late in the third quarter, but Milwaukee scored on its next four possessions to get right back in it. O.J. Mayo's 3-pointer less than a minute to the fourth brought the Bucks within one, and Antetokounmpo hit two free throws on the next trip to cap a 9-0 run.
Memphis regrouped and grabbed an 85-81 advantage on Conley's layup off a Lee steal with just over five minutes left, but an Antetokounmpo basket and a long three from Jerryd Bayless sent the Bucks back ahead with 3:23 to go.
Twelve of Antetokounmpo's points came in the fourth quarter.
"I think coach (Jason Kidd) was telling the other guys to give me the ball because they saw that I had a mismatch," he said.
The lead changed hands three times in the next two minutes, with Randolph providing the Grizzlies with a 91-90 edge on a second-chance bucket with 1:29 to go. Neither team scored again until Conley went to the line in the final seconds and missed the first try to set up Knight's heroics.
Memphis began to gain some separation near the end of a tightly played first half, with Randolph following Conley's driving basket with a 43-foot heave at the buzzer that banked in to send the Grizzlies into the break owning a 51-44 lead.
The Grizzlies went ahead by double digits early in the third quarter, the last coming on Randolph's turnaround that made the score 60-50 four minutes into the second half.
Game Notes
Milwaukee shot just 11 free throws, making eight ... With Antetokounmpo leading the way and the Grizzlies resting veteran sixth man Vince Carter, the Bucks' bench outscored Memphis' reserves by a 44-27 margin ... The Bucks snapped a seven-game series losing streak and earned their first win over Memphis since a 108-103 overtime decision on March 28, 2010 ... Rookie Jabari Parker had 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting for Milwaukee.
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