WARRIORS SHOW WHO THE REAL BOSSES ARE
ELEVEN games following Stephen Curry’s hibernation due to groin injury, the defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors were humbled and shamed no end by the opposition, including the Milwaukee Bucks, who dealt them their worst loss of the 2019 season.
Four games after the two-time MVP’ return, the ‘embarrassed’ Warriors got revenge against the Bucks and issued warning to all and sundry that as the throne owner, they’re still the ‘boss.’
The Warriors needed a reassuring game not for themselves - as their faith never really wavers - but for the anxious segments of their fan base and perhaps a few skeptics around the NBA.
They got such a game Friday night in Milwaukee.
A 105-95 victory over a Bucks team that ravaged the Warriors four weeks ago in Oakland served notice that the defending champs still have what it takes to survive their own imperfections and wallop a highquality team on its own floor.
Beneath the pretty 3-point shooting (19-of-46, 41.3 percent) and the exemplary ball movement (32 assists on 40 field goals) was a defense that squeezed and scratched and scuffled the Bucks into the longest night of their impressive season.
“We have an eye on them. This is a team we could play later on,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Milwaukee as reported by NBC Bay Area.
The Warriors (18-9) set a nasty tone early, holding the Bucks (16-8) to 29.6-percent shooting in the opening quarter, 39.1 percent for the game, including 17.9 percent (7-of-39) from beyond the arc. The league’s highest-scoring team was held below 100 points for the first time this season.
The Warriors also prodded Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo into frustration, forcing four turnovers and limiting him to 13 shots and 22 points.
His teammates couldn’t. Sharpshooter Khris Middleton was 0- of-4 in
LOS ANGELES: The Milwaukee Bucks bounced back from a disappointing defeat with a big win in Toronto on Sunday (Monday in Manila), edging the Raptors 10499 in a battle of the NBA’s top Eastern Conference teams.
The Raptors still own the best record in the league at 21-7, but they suffered a second straight defeat after falling 106-105 to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. Malcolm Brogdon’s back-to-back three-pointers
Bucks up 100-97, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Brogdon scored 18 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 19 and matched his seasonhigh with 19 rebounds for Milwaukee, who fell to the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors on Friday. Brook Lopez also scored 19 for
to beat the Raptors twice this season. “We came off a tough loss to the Warriors, we knew we needed this one going into this back-to-back,” Brogdon said. The Bucks, who improved to 17-8, host Cleveland on Monday.
He said shaking off the loss to Golden
“We’re a really good team this year,” he - selves. We’re resilient. We’ve got a coach that
Toronto have dropped two straight for the second time this season and have lost three of their last four. Serge Ibaka scored 22 points and Kawhi Leonard had 20 for the Raptors. But Kyle
He did produce seven assists, and Toronto coach Nick Nurse said the Raptors didn’t play badly offensively.
Jrue Holiday and Julius Randle combined for 65 points to lead the New Orleans Pelicans past the Detroit Pistons 116-108.
Holiday and Randle rose to the occasion after star teammate Anthony Davis was hobbled by a sore hip after a clash with
Davis returned to the game in the third two-of-seven shooting with nine rebounds, Holiday filled the void with 37 points, one shy of
pointers. Hepulleddownfiverebounds, handedout five assists and came up with three steals. -
Elsewhere, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz 110-97, avenging a 34-point loss to the Jazz on December 4.
DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points and Rudy Gay had 23 points and 15 rebounds as the Spurs put together two straight wins
from October 27-November 3.
The victory was the 1,210th of coach Gregg Popovich’s career, moving him into a tie with Pat Riley for fourth place in NBA history.