NBA: Westbrook claims bragging rights in marquee matchup

Giannis Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 28 points but reigning NBA MVP Russell Westbrook claimed bragging rights as the Oklahoma City Thunder thumped the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-91, on Tuesday night.

American Westbrook finished just shy of his fourth triple double of the season, scoring 12 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and collecting nine assists for the Thunder in front of a crowd of 18,700 at the Bradley Center arena.

The game was billed as a matchup between the defending league MVP Westbrook and the early season front runner for the award Bucks superstar Antetokounmpo.

But unlike Greece's Antetokounmpo, Westbrook got plenty of help from his supporting cast Tuesday as Paul George scored a team-high 20 points and Carmelo Anthony chipped in with 17.

Jeremi Grant also finished with 17 for the Thunder, who shot 49 percent and improved to 4-3 on the season.

"I thought we played a great game on offense in the first half," Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said. "We really moved the ball well and we generated high-quality shots."

The 22-year-old Antetokounmpo led the Bucks but failed to reach the 30-point mark for just the second time this season.

Antetokounmpo, who grew up in Athens and is of Nigerian descent, hit nine of 14 shots, including a pair of three-pointers. But Milwaukee shot just 42.1 percent overall as they lost their second game in the last three.

"They just played better than us," Antetokounmpo said. "They were more physical than us. We need to do a better job of being ready, especially against teams like OKC."

Oklahoma City wasted little time setting the tone, using a 16-0 run to jump out to a 20-8 first-quarter lead.

Antetokounmpo drew his third foul just a minute into the second quarter and spent the next eight minutes on the bench.

Milwaukee struggled to keep pace without him and fell behind by as many as 24 before going into halftime down 60-42.

   
In Los Angeles, Julius Randle came off the bench to score 17 points and lead seven players in double figures as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the red-hot Detroit Pistons, 113-93.

Kyle Kuzma added 16 points, Larry Nance tallied 14 and 12 rebounds for the Lakers.

Reggie Jackson and Tobias Harris scored 18 points each for the Pistons, who dropped to 5-3 on the season.

"I don't think we are going to play that great every night but it shows that our team is capable of being a very good basketball team when we are playing together," said Lakers coach Luke Walton.

The Pistons were coming off back-to-back wins against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday and the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

The Clippers were the last unbeaten team before Detroit rallied from 13 points down in the third quarter to win 95-87.

In Indianapolis, the Pacers also used a balanced scoring attack to crush the Sacramento Kings, 101-83, as Lithuanian forward Domantas Sabonis delivered his third double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.

Bojan Bogdanovic, of Croatia, scored a team-high 17 points while American Thaddeus Young chipped in 15 for Indiana who improved to 4-3 on the season.

Victor Oladipo, who led the Pacers in scoring each of the first six games, finished with 14 points on four-of-10 shooting. Cory Joseph added 13 points off the Indiana bench.

Elsewhere, the Phoenix Suns blew an 18-point lead in the third quarter but made enough timely plays down the stretch to beat the Brooklyn Nets, 122-114.

Devin Booker scored 32 points for Phoenix, his second 30-point game of the season and the 22nd of his career.

The Suns improved to 3-1 since Canadian Jay Triano took over as interim coach, replacing Earl Watson last week.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bucks rally to defeat Heat

Finding a strong bench combination has been an issue all season long for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Wednesday was no different, as head coach Jason Kidd moved Greg Monroe back into the starting five while relegating Miles Plumlee back to the bench.

The move paid off, as Plumlee hit 8 of 12 shots and scored 18 points as the Bucks rallied down the stretch for a 114-108 victory over the Miami Heat at the Bradley Center.

"Sometimes, we try to take a step back and try to not put an emphasis on starting," Kidd said. "You just play your minutes. Miles played the same way as he did when he was starting."

Plumlee and Monroe had switched places 12 games ago as Kidd tried to add some punch to his bench, which had been plagued by injuries and general ineffectiveness.

Both players responded well to the move, especially Plumlee, who averaged 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds in 19.1 minutes a night.

He wasn't the only reserve to step up in a big way for Milwaukee. Little-used point guard Tyler Ennis was pressed into action thanks to the season-ending injury to Michael Carter-Williams and a stomach virus that kept O.J. Mayo away Wednesday night.

He scored eight points with five assists in 25 minutes of work and had five in the fourth quarter as the Bucks re-took the lead and pulled away for the victory.

"We needed it tonight," said Khris Middleton, who finished with 22. "Those guys have been working hard all year long. They finally got a chance to play some minutes and really produced out there for us."

The Bucks held an eight-point lead early in the third quarter before Miami got on a little bit of a roll and grabbed the lead on a hook shot by Luol Deng that made it a 76-74 game with 3:49 left in the quarter.

Deng scored 11 of his 20 in the third and added seven more in the final quarter, but Milwaukee answered and tied the game at 89 on a Middleton jumper with 8:15 remaining.

Wade found Deng open in the corner to put the Heat back up three, but a bucket and two free throws by Plumlee put Milwaukee back in front.

A layup by Giannis Antetokounmpo pushed the lead to five with 6:07 remaining and Milwaukee held on for the victory.

"I don't think they really knew what they wanted to do with me and Giannis in the pick-and-roll, so it worked out for us," said Middleton.

"It's something that we've been doing lately with smaller guys guarding me and him, so it's been working for us."

Miami and Milwaukee both shot 52.5 percent from the field, hitting an identical 42 of 80 shots.

And while the Heat outperformed from beyond the arc, hitting 6 of 15 compared to 4 of 8 for Milwaukee, the Bucks held an advantage at the free-throw line, making 26 of 37 while Miami made just 18 in 19 trips, and also capitalized on second-chance points, scoring 19 off 12 offensive rebounds.

But Miami's good shooting was nullified by carelessness; Milwaukee forced 17 turnovers which the Bucks flipped for 23 points.

"They had 66 paint points, we had 60. They beat us at the line. They beat us in second chance points," said Dwyane Wade, who scored 18 but was forced to play with four fouls for much of the final quarter.

"But as a team, we had just too many turnovers."

Josh Richardson hit three 3-pointers and finished with 14 points while Hassan Whiteside scored 23 off the bench to lead Miami, which had its five-game winning streak snapped.

The Bucks got 24 from Antetokounmpo and 23 from Jabari Parker while Monroe finished with 10 and eight rebounds.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com