Bucks moving on
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 17 rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic 118-104 on Saturday to close out the Eastern Conference series in five games.
The Bucks advanced to face Miami in the second round, beginning Monday.
Chris Middleton added 21 points and 10 rebounds for Milwaukee. The Bucks had a 21-point lead trimmed to three in the fourth quarter before regaining control with the help of timely outside shooting by Marvin Williams.
Williams scored all 12 of his points on 3-pointers, and Brook Lopez added 16 points for Milwaukee, which won four straight after dropping the opener.
Nicola Vucevic had 22 points and 15 rebounds for Orlando, while Evan Fournier added 18 points.
Milwaukee led 74-53 when after Middleton’s 3 early in the second half and the Bucks still led by 20 with about three minutes left in the third quarter before Orlando suddenly pulled itself back into the game.
Consecutive 3s by Terrence Ross and Wes Iwindu, followed by D.J. Augustin’s floater, ignited a 24-7 run that saw the Magic cut it to 96-93 when Fournier hit a 3 with 7:37 to go.
The Bucks called timeout, starters checked back in, and Milwaukee quickly began to pull away again, starting with Williams’ 3 after Lopez’s offensive rebound.
Middleton followed with a mid-range jumper, then Williams added another 3.
The game marked first NBA action since the Bucks refused to take the court for a playoff game Wednesday night in protest of the recent police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin.
Rockets 114, Thunder 80 — James Harden scored 31 points and Russell Westbrook returned to face his former team in the playoffs for the first time, helping the Houston Rockets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Robert Covington added 22 points and Eric Gordon had 20. The Rockets can advance to the conference semifinals with a victory Monday.
Westbrook, who had played played just one game since Aug. 4 because of a quadriceps injury -- missing the Rockets’ first four playoff games — had seven points, six rebounds and seven assists in 23 minutes.
Dennis Schroder led the Thunder with 19 points despite being ejected midway through the third quarter
for hitting P.J. Tucker in the groin; Tucker also was ejected after retaliating with a head-butt.