Khris Middleton admitted that he let the Milwaukee Bucks down after spending the entire fourth quarter and overtime period on the bench as his side lost to the New York Knicks over the weekend.

The Knicks got one over the Bucks on Saturday night, winning 136-134 at home to condemn the visitors to their seventh loss of the campaign. And Middleton, who has been the his team's second-leading scorer so far this term, had quite the off night.

The player was afforded just 19 minutes of playing time in which he scored 10 points in an abysmal 3 of 11 shooting spell.

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"Plain and simple just got benched today," Middleton said after the loss, per the Journal Sentinel's Matt Velazquez. "Wasn't playing well. Thought I was hurting the team more than I helped, so coach decided not to play me.

"I know (my teammates) got my back. I want them to know I've got their back. I thought they fought, but I feel like I let them down by not being out there tonight."

“We got up a couple different times, didn’t have the focus or the determination to take it to the next level," head coach Mike Budenholzer said. "Go down to the wire against a team that’s shooting it the way they did tonight, anything can happen. Credit to them. We’ve got to be a lot better.”

Middleton is averaging 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per contest so far this season. But he seemed off the pace on Saturday, in a game the Bucks would probably have won quite easily had he been on form.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 33 points and grabbed 19 rebounds on the night, acknowledged his teammate's struggles but has backed him to show improvement in the team's upcoming match against the Detroit Pistons.

“We’ve got to, as a team, pick him up," the forward said. "He wasn’t - how can I explain - he wasn’t Khris tonight. But we know he’s one of our leaders, we believe in him and know he’s going to bring it next game.

The player also urged the Bucks to do a better job of keeping advantages late in games.

"I think we can get a lot better," he continued. "We've lost a lot of games, close games, and we haven't had a chance to execute as well as we want at the end of games. I feel like if we can improve that, try to keep our leads when we have leads ... I think we're going to be great."

What This Means

Budenholzer isn't afraid to bench his stars if he feels they aren't playing at the required level on a given night. And Middleton, one of the best shooters in the NBA this season, found himself on the fringes of the coach's good graces on the weekend.

The team will hope that his snubbing will kick some life into him as they can't afford to fall too many games behind the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference. But there's hardly a worry, given his immense talent.

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