LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Milwaukee’s two-time reigning Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo poured in 43 points Monday to power the Bucks to a 125-115 NBA victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Antetokounmpo connected on 17 of 24 shots from the field. He made a brace of three pointers and was simply unstoppable in the paint.
He scored 30 of the Bucks’ 67 first-half points and finished seven-of-nine from the free-throw line with nine rebounds and four assists.
Detroit managed to trim the deficit to 118-110 with 2:38 left to play, but Antetokounmpo stopped their momentum with a block of a driving Sekou Doumbouya shot, then grabbed the rebound of teammate Donte DiVincenzo’s miss for a put-back basket that effectively ended the Pistons’ comeback bid.
“The blocked shot and the put back was big,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said, adding that he wouldn’t have liked to see the deficit whittled further.
Detroit, playing without star Blake Griffin, also saw rookie Killian Hayes go down in the third quarter with a hip injury that kept him out the rest of the game.
It was a big night for Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who scored 21 of his season-best 40 points in the second quarter as the Celtics rallied from an early deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors 126-114.
Tatum connected on 11 of 19 shots from the field and was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line as he fell one point shy of matching his career-best.
The first meeting of the teams since Boston eliminated Toronto in the second round of the playoffs in September was in Tampa, Florida, where the Raptors are based amid continuing coronavirus restrictions on travel to Canada.
The Philadelphia 76ers improved their league-leading record to 6-1 with a 118-101 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Tobias Harris scored 22 points to lead seven Sixers players in double figures in the wire-to-wire win.
Joel Embiid added 14 points and 11 rebounds, Danny Green contributed 13 points, and Ben Simmons had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Philadelphia.
In Orlando, Aaron Gordon matched his career high with six three-pointers and led the Magic with 24 points in a 103-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Magic drained 15 three-pointers as they pulled away in the third quarter, when they out-scored the Cavs 38-18.
Doncic triple-double
New York’s Julius Randle scored 28 points and pulled down 17 rebounds and Austin Rivers drilled a late three-pointer that helped the Knicks erase a 15-point third-quarter deficit in a 113-108 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta.
In a back-and-forth battle, the Knicks seized an early double-digit lead only for Atlanta to take a four-point lead into halftime.
The Hawks pushed their lead to 15 with less than five minutes left in the third, but they couldn’t hang on.
“We didn’t play great but we found a way to win,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And I love the fight in this team.”
The Dallas Mavericks won a Texas tussle with the Rockets in Houston on the back of Luka Doncic’s first triple-double of the season.
Doncic, who sat out Sunday with quadriceps contusion, returned with a vengeance with 33 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists as Dallas held off a late Rockets push for a 113-100 victory.
The Slovenian star, still just 21, notched his 26th career triple-double. Tim Hardway Jr. added 30 points off the bench for Dallas, who led by as many as 16 in the third quarter.
The Rockets, with 23 points from Christian Wood and 21 from James Harden, tied it up with 10 minutes remaining, but the Mavericks relentlessly pulled away again.
Indiana’s Malcolm Brogdon delivered the game-winner as the Pacers broke the New Orleans Pelicans’ hearts 118-116 in overtime, having rallied from six points down with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
© Agence France-Presse
