Pistons snap Bucks’ 6-game win streak
MILWAUKEE — Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 34 points and the Detroit Pistons beat Milwaukee 115-106 on Monday night to snap the Bucks’ six-game winning streak.
Detroit owns the NBA’s worst record (7-28) but beat the reigning NBA champions and ended its recent futility in this series by getting a boost from the return of several players who had missed multiple games due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Milwaukee had won 12 consecutive regular-season matchups with the Pistons by an average margin of 16.7 points before Monday. That streak didn’t include the Bucks’ four-game sweep of Detroit in a 2019 first-round playoff series.
The Bucks lost despite having their top three players – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday – all available. This marked just the third time all season that the Bucks have lost when they’ve had all three of those players in the starting lineup.
Milwaukee threatened to erase a 13-point deficit in the final two minutes. But after Holiday’s 3-pointer narrowed the margin to five with 47.1 seconds left, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham converted a putback of his own miss with 27.8 seconds remaining.
The Bucks wouldn’t threaten again.
Josh Jackson scored 24 points, Cunningham had 19 and Trey Lyles added 11 as all three Pistons came back from health and safety protocols. Killian Hayes, Saben Lee and Rodney McGruder also were back from protocols.
Hamidou Diallo added 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Pistons.
Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Holiday scored 29. Bobby Portis had 12 points and 14 rebounds. Middleton added 10 points.
Milwaukee shot just 11 of 46 on 3-point attempts.
The Bucks led 64-61 at halftime after going on a 15-3 run late in the second quarter, but the Pistons scored 13 straight points early in the third period to go ahead 74-67. Bey had a pair of 3-pointers and Cunningham provided a 3-pointer and a dunk during that surge.
Milwaukee went back ahead when Holiday drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup with 2:48 left in the third quarter, but Detroit responded again with an 8-0 run. And after the Bucks tied the score at 90-all with 10:12 remaining, the Pistons scored seven consecutive points to go in front for good.
76ers 133, Rockets 113
PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid got rolling early with a Eurostep, one-handed jam that shook the arena. Embiid walked to midcourt with his arms extended and soaked in the cheers.
It was exactly the tonic the 76ers’ All-Star center needed against one of the NBA’s worst teams.
“We can beat anybody on any given night,” Embiid said. “I just want to do whatever.”
How does a triple-double and a fourth straight 30-plus-point game sound?
Embiid had 31 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, reaching the triple-double to the tune of “MVP!” chants in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 133-113 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
Embiid wasn’t even looking to score as he sat on nine assists in the fourth quarter and finally hit Seth Curry for a bucket and his third career triple-double. He shot 12 of 20 from the floor in 30 minutes.
“He was not going to let us lose that game,” acting coach Dan Burke said.
The Sixers were slow to shake off a sub-.500 team — a familiar situation this season — and needed a 41-29 third quarter to put some distance between themselves and the Rockets, the worst team in the Western Conference.
“Whether it’s me pushing the ball, attacking or finding guys, I thought it’s been great,” Embiid said.
Furkan Korkmaz had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Isaiah Joe scored 18 points for the Sixers.
Garrison Mathews led the Rockets with 23 points.
The Rockets played without guard Kevin Porter Jr. and forward Christian Wood after they were each suspended one game for bad behavior. Porter and Wood both had meltdowns in a loss Saturday to Denver. Rockets coach Stephen Silas said it was “best for our culture” to sit the duo for a game.
“It should be a bump in the road and we continue on,” Silas said. “If you really love somebody, you don’t take an instance and say that’s it or make it to where it’s more than it is. You love them. And when stuff like this happens, you love them even more.”
Embiid played the entire first quarter and carried the Sixers to a 34-30 lead. Korkmaz, making only his eighth start, stepped in as the able sidekick and hit three 3-pointers. Korkmaz subbed for Tyrese Maxey who, along with Matisse Thybulle, entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
That left the Sixers without two key contributors.
“There seems to be a perception because you have Joel Embiid, you’re not missing guys,” Burke said.
The 76ers again played a short-handed team they were expected to beat easily — FanDuel Sportsbook had them as 13-point favorites — and criticism over recent losses or slim-margin victories against weaker teams led to a terse exchange from coach Doc Rivers with a reporter after a win against Toronto.
Sure enough, the malaise continued and the Sixers trailed 63-62 at halftime. Embiid and Korkmaz combined for 22 points in the third and Philly shot 14 of 19 (74%) from the floor to put away the Rockets.
Grizzlies 118, Nets 104
NEW YORK — Ja Morant scored 36 points and five Grizzlies scored in double figures as Memphis extended its winning streak to five games with a 118-104 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Desmond Bane scored 29 points, Brandon Clarke added 16, and Jarrett Culver and Tyus Jones had 12 apiece.
Kevin Durant led the Nets with 26 points on 8-for-24 shooting from the field, including 2 for 8 from 3-point range. James Harden added 19 points in 5-for14 shooting. Nic Claxton added 11 points and Blake Griffin and Bruce Brown each finished with 10 points as Brooklyn lost its third straight.
Morant scored 18 points in the third period and had a spectacular tomahawk dunk that drew a gasp from the Barclay Center crowd of more 17,000, which included NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown, whose career is on hold after leaving the field and his Tampa Bay teammates in the Buccaneers’ win over the Jets on Sunday.
The first of two regular-season matchups between the leaders in the Atlantic and Southwest divisions concerned Brooklyn coach Steve Nash. Nash, in his pregame comments, pointed to the Grizzlies’ ability to offensive rebound and force turnovers, parts of the game in which the Nets have struggled.
Memphis scored 14 points off nine Brooklyn turnovers in the opening quarters and led 56-47 at halftime. The Grizzlies also grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, which helped them score 18 second-chance points.
Memphis built its lead to as many as 25 points in the third quarter by continuously attacking the paint, led by Morant’s acrobatic drives.
The Grizzlies extended their lead to 28 points in the fourth quarter. With Durant and Harden on the bench, Brooklyn’s reserves cut the deficit to 10 points, but got no closer.
Brown scored seven of his 10 points in the period, and Jevon Carter (six), Day’Ron Sharpe (six), and Cam Thomas (eight) scored all of their points during the ill-fated comeback attempt.