Bucks stay hot, pound Wizards

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 43 points, Eric Bledsoe added 22 points and 11 assists, and the Milwaukee Bucks routed the visiting Washington Wizards 148-129 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.

Antetokounmpo made 17 of 21 field goal attempts, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range, as Milwaukee beat the Wizards for the second time in less than a week.

The Bucks, who shot 60.2 per cent (56 of 93) and made 19 of 30 3-pointers, have won 11 of their last 12.

Bradley Beal scored 30 for the Wizards, who allowed a season-high point total in losing their third straight. Thomas Bryant had 26 points and 14 rebounds for

Washington while Tomas Satoransky had 16 points and 10 assists.

Beal, 25, became the youngest player in NBA history to make 1,000 3-pointers.

Washington committed 23 turnovers that led to 36 Milwaukee points.

One day after learning that star point guard John Wall will be out at least another 12 months after rupturing his Achilles tendon, the Wizards played without Otto Porter Jr. The Wizards confirmed reports from earlier Wednesday that they have traded Porter to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are getting Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker.

Milwaukee led by 20 at halftime, but the Wizards chipped away in the third quarter and trailed by nine after Jeff Green’s two free throws with 3:37 left in the third quarter.

Washington, who trailed by 13 to start the fourth quarter, scored six straight points to pull within 120-113. The Bucks responded and Bledsoe’s dunk with 8:00 remaining capped a 13-0 run that put the Bucks up by 20 points.

The Wizards led 29-28 after Beal’s dunk with 3:58 left in the first quarter, but Khris Middleton converted a 3-point play that started the Bucks on a 16-1 run capped by D.J. Wilson’s dunk with 53.5 seconds left in the quarter. By the time it was over the Bucks led 50-35.

It was just the second 50-point first quarter in the NBA this season.

Warriors 141, Spurs 102

Golden State made 24 of 25 shots bridging the second and third quarter, breaking open a close game en route to a shellacking of short-handed San Antonio in Oakland, California.

The Spurs elected to rest their top two scorers, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan, in the second game of their eight-game “Rodeo Trip”, with the second half of a back-to-back looming Thursday night against the Trail Blazers in Portland, Ore.

The Warriors scored 49 points in the third quarter, giving them 115 for three periods, the most ever allowed through three quarters in the Gregg Popovich era in San Antonio. Klay Thompson had 26 points and Kevin Durant 23 for the Warriors, who won for the 13th time in their last 14 games.

Rockets 127, Kings 101

With James Harden leading the way in scoring for a 33rd consecutive game, visiting Houston turned a second-quarter eruption into an easy victory over Sacramento.

Harden posted 36 points on 13-of-26 shooting and extended his streak of consecutive 30-plus-point games to 28. He hit 8 of 13 3-point attempts after entering play having shot 31.9 per cent from deep over his previous 12 games.

Gerald Green (25 points) and Eric Gordon (20) helped shoulder the scoring load for Houston, shooting a combined 15 of 31. Buddy Hield scored 20 points for Sacramento, while Bogdan Bogdanovic and Frank Mason added 13 apiece.

Nets 135, Nuggets 130

D’Angelo Russell totalled 27 points and 11 assists as Brooklyn stopped a three-game losing streak with a victory over visiting Denver.

Russell shot 10 of 23 from the field, including 6 of 9 on 3-pointers, and posted his sixth double-double of the season. The All-Star guard also recorded at least 25 points and 10 assists for the second time in his career as the Nets won for the 14th time in their past 16 home games since December 7.

DeMarre Carroll contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as the Nets shot 51.1 per cent, handed out a season-best 36 assists and withstood some shaky moments in the final minutes. The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic recorded his 10th triple-double of the season by totalling 25 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Denver lost their second straight after winning six in a row.

Mavericks 99,
Hornets 93

Rookie of the Year favourite Luka Doncic recorded the third triple-double of his career and shook off poor shooting to produce late fireworks as host Dallas defeated Charlotte.

Doncic, just 3 of 16 from the floor with under four minutes to play, came up with a nifty finish at the rim and drew the foul for a three-point play and then followed up with a 3-pointer to put the Mavs ahead for good, 94-88, in a game that was not pretty but was mostly close throughout.

The 19-year-old Slovenian finished with a team-high 19 points on 5-of-20 shooting — just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc — and added 11 assists and 10 rebounds. His total floor game stole the spotlight from All-Star Kemba Walker, who led the Hornets with 30 points.

Pelicans 125, Bulls 120

Julius Randle returned from a six-game absence to score 31 points and lead a balanced New Orleans offense in a win at Chicago.

Randle, who had been sidelined by an ankle injury, was joined in double figures by Cheick Diallo (18 points), Jrue Holiday (18 points and 11 assists), Jahlil Okafor (13 points) and Darius Miller and Kenrich Williams (12 points each) as the Pelicans won for just the second time in eight games.

The Pelicans chose not to play All-Star forward Anthony Davis, who requested a trade last week while sidelined by a finger injury that has since healed enough for him to be cleared to play. For Chicago, Lauri Markkanen had 30 points and 10 rebounds while Zach LaVine added 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Jazz 116, Suns 88

Donovan Mitchell scored 21 points, and Rudy Gobert added 16 points and 12 rebounds as Utah had more than enough to beat visiting Phoenix, who took its 12th consecutive defeat.

Royce O’Neale and Joe Ingles added 15 points each for the Jazz, who have just two victories in their past four games but are 11-3 over their past 14 contests dating to January 9. Ingles had 11 assists.

Josh Jackson scored 27 points for the Suns, picking up the slack in the backcourt in the absence of Devin Booker, who did not play because of a tight right hamstring.