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Golden State Warriors' record winning streak over with loss to Milwaukee Bucks

By Andrew Wagner, The Sports Xchange

MILWAUKEE -- The streak is over.

Four times during their NBA-record 24-game winning streak to start this season, the Golden State Warriors have rallied from 10-point deficits; twice, they've accomplished that task in the fourth quarter.

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But there would be no miracle comeback this time and history will show that the Warriors' winning streak came to an end in the most unlikely of ways; a 108-95 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,717 at the Bradley Center.

"Losing still sucks," said Warriors' interim coach Luke Walton. "But what they did to start the season, there's no reason for anyone to hang their heads in that locker room for losing that game."

Golden State, which hasn't lost a regular-season contest since falling to New Orleans 103-100 on April 7 of last season, led for all of a minute and 35 seconds Saturday and not once after Festus Ezeli converted a three-point play with 10:08 left in the first half.

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They'd challenge again the third, getting within a point with 1:32 to play but every time Golden State threatened, the Bucks answered with a defensive stop or a run.

"We stuck together tonight," said center Greg Monroe, who led Milwaukee with 28 points and 11 rebounds. "We knew what they had coming in. We wanted to make sure we did the things we did, the things we go over and try to make it as tough as possible for them."

Monroe was a force down the stretch, scoring 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting in the final quarter as the Bucks went up by as many as 15.

Point guard Michael Carter-Williams also had 11 in the final quarter, including an exclamation point dunk with 32 seconds to play.

"Emotions were definitely high," said Carter-Williams, who finished with 17 points, five assists and five steals. "Everyone contributed and did different things down the stretch. It's a great win for us."

In all, five Bucks players scored in double-figures including forward Giannis Antetokounmpo had a big night, scoring 11 points with 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double.

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Shooting guard O.J. Mayo knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 18 points and forward Jabari Parker added 19 with seven rebounds and a blocked shot for the Bucks, who shot 49.4 percent.

Milwaukee was good offensively, but did its best work on the defensive end, where Golden State shot just 40.9 percent from the field and 6 of 26 from beyond the arc.

Steph Curry made 10 of his 21 shots to finish with 28 points, but was 2-for-8 from distance while shooting guard Klay Thompson, back after a one-game absence due to a sore ankle, went 4 of 14 from the field and 2-for-7 on 3-point attempts to finish with 12 points.

"It's disappointing," Thompson said. "I think we beat ourselves, especially on my end. I didn't play well or shoot well at all so it's very disappointing."

The loss marked not just the end of the Warriors' historic streak, but also the end of a seven-game road trip. Golden State is off now until Wednesday, when the Suns visit Oracle Arena.

"I'm sure the long flight home tomorrow, we'll have some guys unwinding a bit," Walton said. "I bet there will be a little relief mentally going forward from this point. It was a lot of fun and we plan on continuing to win a lot of ball games."

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Milwaukee, meanwhile, is hoping this game can be a spring board to turning around what has been a disappointing start to the season.

"We were in it late last night but came up short," Kidd said. "To be able to turn the page shows the character of this team. We're turning in the right direction."

NOTES: Golden State was without SF Harrison Barnes, who has missed nine games with a sprained left ankle. ... Bucks Gs Jerryd Bayless and Greivis Vasquez were out Saturday with ankle injuries. Bayless has missed five games while Vasquez has sat out the last nine. ... Warriors C Andrew Bogut scored just two points Saturday but blocked a season-high four shots and grabbed 11 rebounds against the Bucks, with whom he spent seven seasons with the Bucks. ... Milwaukee has a history of snapping long winning streaks. The Bucks beat the Lakers 120-104 on Jan. 9, 1972, snapping Los Angeles' NBA record 33-game winning streak. Since joining the league in 1968, the Bucks have snapped five winning streaks of 12 games or more, and each team has gone on to win the NBA Championship.

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