Bucks ring in holiday with rout
Middleton’s big game leads to beatdown of Warriors
Khris Middleton scored 31 points and the Bucks routed the Warriors 138-99 on Friday to win their first Christmas Day home game in over half a century.
Middleton went 10 of 15 overall and 6 for 8 from 3-point range, leading a strong performance from deep for his team. He totaled 58 points in his first two games of the season.
“The weeks before the season, I just tried to put in good work, work on my game,” Middleton said. “So far, it’s been working for me.”
The Bucks were 20 of 37 on 3-point attempts, while the Warriors 10 of 45.
The Warriors were outscored by 65 points in their first two games, the second-highest total in NBA history through two games to 71 points for the 1987-88 Clippers. The Warriors lost 125-99 in Brooklyn in their season opener.
This was the second-most lopsided score of any Christmas Day game in NBA history. The Syracuse Nationals beat the Knicks 162-100 on Dec. 25, 1960.
“The thing I was most disappointed in is we just had two good days of practice with our execution working on getting in our offense and making hard cuts and reads, and we did not execute much of anything,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It was kind of scattered and disorganized. I’m disappointed in that. I’ve got to take the blame for that. I’m the head coach.”
The Bucks’ only other Christmas home game came during the franchise’s inaugural season in 1968. The Bucks were on the road for Christmas the last two seasons, losing in Philadelphia in 2019 and winning in New York in 2018.
They went out and delivered a dominant performance to bounce back from a season-opening 122-121 loss in Boston in which Celtics star Jayson Tatum banked in a go-ahead 3-pointer and the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo missed a potential tying free throw in the final second.
Antetkounmpo had 15 points and 13 rebounds against the Warriors, but the two-time reigning NBA MVP shot 4 of 15 from the floor and 7 of 15 from the foul line.
Stephen Curry scored 19 points for the Warriors, and rookie James Wiseman had 18.
Celtics 123, Nets 95: Kyrie Irving scored 37 points with eight assists in his return to Boston and Kevin Durant added 29 as the Nets coasted.
Jarrett Allen added 11 rebounds for the Nets, who remained perfect so far this season and sent the Celtics to their first loss. Irving was 7 of 10 from 3-point range in his first regular-season game at TD Garden since he opted out of his Celtics contract in 2019.
Jaylen Brown scored 27 with eight rebounds for the Celtics and Jayson Tatum had 20 points and eight boards. The Celtics beat the Bucks in their opener, but they couldn’t do it again in their second straight matchup against a team expected to contend in the Eastern Conference this season.
The Celtics led by three at the half before being outscored 35-23 in the third quarter, including a 9-0 run that turned a threepoint edge into a 82-70 lead. It was 86-79 early in the fourth when the Nets, even with Irving and Durant on the bench, again scored nine in a row to open a 16-point lead.
Heat 111, Pelicans 98: Erik Spoelstra remained perfect on Christmas, and a record-tying show from Duncan Robinson helped him stay that way.
Robinson made seven 3-pointers — tying the Christmas single-game mark — and scored 23 points, helping the Heat beat the Pelicans to start the NBA’s holiday quintupleheader Friday.
“It’s super special to play in Christmas,” Robinson said. “I certainly don’t take it for granted.”
Goran Dragic scored 18 points, Bam Adebayo had 17 and Avery Bradley finished with 12 for the Heat, and Spoelstra improved his Christmas record as Heat coach to 8-0.
Precious Achiuwa and Tyler Herro each scored 11 for the Heat, who lost Jimmy Butler at halftime with right ankle stiffness.
Zion Williamson had 32 points and 14 rebounds in 38 minutes for the Pelicans — the rebounds and minutes both being career highs. Brandon Ingram finished with 28 points.
But the Pelicans shot 40% to the Heat’s 51%.
“We made some defensive mistakes,” said Josh Hart, who scored 12 for the Pelicans. “Lack of communication. We’ve got to communicate better on the defensive end.”
Robinson’s seven 3s tied the Christmas mark Ingram set last year.