Giannis pours in 34 to power Bucks
CHICAGO – Giannis Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 16 rebounds, Jrue Holiday came on strong down the stretch to finish with 26 points and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 118-112 on Friday night. Holiday scored 10 points over the final five minutes as the defending champion Bucks tied the Bulls for the Central Division lead with their third straight victory.
76ers 125, Cavaliers 119
PHILADELPHIA – Tyrese Maxey made five 3-pointers and scored 33 points to lead Philadelphia to its fifth straight win.
Suns 115, Knicks 114
PHOENIX – Cam Johnson banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish with a career-high 38 points and give Phoenix a wild victory over New York.
Nuggets 116, Rockets 101
DENVER – Demarcus Cousins, starting in place of ailing Nikola Jokic, scored a season-high 31 points and Denver bounced back from a loss to beat struggling Houston.
Magic 103, Raptors 97
TORONTO – Cole Anthony had 15 points and 12 rebounds, Chuma Okeke had 10 points and 11 rebounds and Orlando beat Toronto, snapping a ninegame losing streak against the Raptors.
Pistons 111, Pacers 106
DETROIT – Saddiq Bey scored 25 points, Cade Cunningham had 20 points and nine rebounds and Detroit rallied to beat Indiana.
Hawks 117, Wizards 114
WASHINGTON – De’andre Hunter scored 26 points and Trae Young added 25 to help Atlanta beat Washington.
Timberwolves 137, Thunder 101
OKLAHOMA CITY – Karl-anthony Towns and Naz Reid each scored 20 points to help Minnesota defeat Oklahoma City for its third straight win.
Pelicans 124, Jazz 90
NEW ORLEANS – Brandon Ingram scored 29 points and C.J. Mccollum added 24 to power New Orleans over Utah.
In winning their fourth consecutive game since the All-star break, the Pelicans led by as many as 37 points, 8649, with 4:08 left in the third quarter. The 37-point deficit was the largest this season for the Jazz, who had entered the game winning nine of their last 10.
The Pelicans limited the NBA’S highest-scoring team to 35.2% shooting and held Donovan Mitchell in check.