Bucks turn up defense, get even
The Milwaukee Bucks still haven’t figured out how to slow down Nikola Vucevic. They did shut down his Orlando Magic teammates well enough to tie the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 20 rebounds and Milwaukee rode a fast start to beat the Magic 111-96 on Thursday night in Game 2. The victory came two days after the team that boasted the NBA’s best regular-season record opened the playoffs by losing 122-110 to Orlando.
“There’s an urgency,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m not going to say there’s a fear factor — I don’t think that — but you have to be urgent.”
Milwaukee bounced back, building a 23-point lead in the first half, though Orlando got the margin down to nine in the fourth quarter. Orlando had no points in the paint for the first quarter and went nearly eight minutes without a basket during a first-half stretch.
Antetokounmpo said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer set the tone for Game 2 with the message he delivered during a film session.
“He told us if we want to win and if we want to go far and if we want to be us, we’ve got to play defense, and we didn’t do that in the first game,” Antetokounmpo said.
Brook Lopez scored 20 points and Pat Connaughton had 15 on five-for-eight three-point shooting for Milwaukee. .
Rockets 111, Thunder 98:
James Harden had 21 points and nine assists and Houston made 19 of an NBA-record 56 three-point attempts.
For all the long-range shots, Harden said the Rockets actually won with defense. Houston held the Thunder to 39 points after the break.
“We played well,” he said. “We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well tonight. But I think defensively, especially in that second half, we did an unbelievable job just gearing in what they like to do and correcting our mishaps in that first half.”
Former Thunder star Russell Westbrook was out for the Rockets again with a right quad strain, but plenty of other Houston players picked up the slack. Danuel House Jr. scored 19 points.
Heat 109, Pacers 100: Duncan Robinson hit his first six shots, all from threepoint range, and finished with 24 points as Miami won.
Robinson opened the game by making the Heat’s first three buckets, all threes. He didn’t miss until midway through the third quarter, and Robinson tied the Heat record for threes in a playoff game with seven. He finished seven-for-eight shooting, all beyond the arc, in a big improvement from Tuesday when he was two for eight.
“Just felt a better rhythm in this one for whatever reason,” Robinson said.
Etc.
The Minnesota Timberwolves won the NBA draft lottery, giving them the No. 1 pick. The lottery was conducted virtually because of the pandemic, with NBA officials doing the actual draw in Secaucus, N.J.
Golden State holds the No. 2 pick, Charlotte got the No. 3 pick and Chicago will pick fourth. The Hornets and Bulls bucked odds to move up. Chicago had a 32% chance of moving into the top four spots, Charlotte about a 26% chance.