MVP Antetokounmpo propels Bucks past Magic, Wizards defeat Suns
LOS ANGELES: Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo shook off foul trouble to score 13 of his 22 points in the second half on Monday as the Bucks pulled away for a 121-99 NBA victory over the Magic in Orlando.
Antetokounmpo, t he t wo-time defending NBA Most Valuable Player, showed no sign of the back spasms that forced him out of the Bucks win over Cleveland on Saturday, adding six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.
Khris Middleton scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Bobby Portis chipped in 20 points off the bench as the Bucks notched their fifth win in six games.
Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic led all scorers with 28 points and 13 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough in the first meeting between the teams since Milwaukee ousted Orlando in the first round of the Eastern Conference play-offs in August.
Orlando forward Aaron Gordon threw down a dunk over Antetokounmpo early in the fourth to pull the Magic within 88-86.
After Gordon’s dunk, the Bucks scored 22 of the next 24 points as they put the game out of reach.
“He’s growing in all ways and it was just two huge plays, because the momentum could’ve swung on the dunk,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said of Antetokounmpo’s lategame effort.
It was a tight finish in Portland, where CJ McCollum scored 30 points, including the game-winning pull-up jumper with 9.9 seconds remaining to give the hosts Trail Blazers a 112-111 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto’s Pascal Siakam missed a floater in the closing seconds and the Blazers escaped with a victory after trailing by as many as 17 points.
In Charlotte, Gordon Hayward scored 28 of his game-high 34 points in the first quarter to fuel the Hornets’ 109-88 victory over the New York Knicks.
The Hornets notched their fourth straight victory — longer than any streak they put together last season.
The Washington Wizards notched their first home win of the season, downing the Phoenix Suns 128-107.
With star guard Russell Westbrook absent with a quadriceps injury, Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 34 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
Beal, who had totalled 101 points in his previous two games, was back in action after missing Saturday’s contest against Miami because of the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols.
But the ongoing pandemic was having an effect on the young season, with Monday’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans postponed, along with a scheduled clash today between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls.
The latest postponements will make for three straight days of lost games, after Miami’s match-up with the Celtics in Boston on Sunday was called off because the Heat were unable to field a minimum eight players.
Some of the enforced absences were due to positive or inconclusive Covid-19 tests, and others to the league’s stringent contact tracing and isolation of possibly exposed players.
The Philadelphia 76ers, among the teams feeling the pinch with five players sidelined by coronavirus protocols, endured a third straight defeat, 112-94 to the Hawks in Atlanta.
RESULTS
Atlanta 112, Philadelphia 94; Portland 112, Toronto 111; Sacramento 127, Indiana 122; Charlotte 109, New York 88; Cleveland 91, Memphis 101; Orlando 99, Milwaukee 121; Washington 128, Phoenix 107