Bucks star’s second triple-double of the season seals Blazers’ fate

NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo notched a career-high 15 assists in his second triple-double of the season yesterday, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a 137-129 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Antetokounmpo added 24 points and 19 rebounds and Eric Bledsoe added 30 points and the Bucks never trailed on the way to a sixth straight win.

The characteristically confident performance from Antetokounmpo was not lost on Portland’s Carmelo Anthony, the 10-time All-Star playing his second game for the Trail Blazers since returning from a year-long absence.

“Giannis is Giannis,” Anthony said. “He’s a tough check. I thought tonight we actually did a pretty good job. Even though he had a tripledouble, when you look at that, it’s like ‘ Oh, he had a hell of a game.’ But I thought, for the most part, we were back on him. We loaded up on him.

“He found some guys, they made some threes, kind of opened the game up.”

The Bucks made their first seven shots, including three three-pointers. After the Trail Blazers responded with a 12-2 run Milwaukee pulled away, stretching their lead to 72-58.

Antetokounmpo secured his 16th career triple-double — notching double figures in three key statistical categories — midway through the third quarter despite a slow start shooting.

“I couldn’t get going offensively,” Antetokounmpo said. “Shots weren’t falling and they were showing a lot of crowds.

“I tried to find my teammates and they were in the right spots. They were able to knock down shots, drive the ball hard to roll hard.

“That’s why I was able to get 15 assists. I just did half of the work and my teammates did the rest.”