San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Antetokounmpo, Bucks outlast Celtics
MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo said he tried to set low expectations for himself when he returned to action Saturday for the first time since entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Dec. 12.
So much for that.
In front of a national television audience on Christmas, Antetokounmpo put up exactly the kind of numbers one would expect from him — 36 points, 12 rebounds and five assists — and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied in the closing minutes for a 117-113 victory over the Boston Celtics.
“It feels good,” Antetokounmpo said. “I was excited to be back, excited to be around my teammates and the fans again and excited to play the game.”
Antetokounmpo got off to a slow start and scored seven points before halftime, Milwaukee trailed a COVID-depleted Celtics team 35-22. He shook off any remaining rust with 17 points in the third then added 12 more after Boston took a 13-point lead with five minutes to play.
“He’s a guy who likes his reps, the touches and feels he gets,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “It took a half for him to kind of knock the cobwebs off but he had a great second half and I’m really impressed by him.”
Boston had just eight players available after putting Dennis Schroder in the protocols earlier Saturday, but took control for most of the game behind Jaylen Brown, who scored 14 of his 25 points in the opening quarter. Jayson Tatum also scored 25 for Boston, which led by as many as 19.
Walker, Randle fuel Knicks’ win
Kemba Walker became the seventh NBA player with a triple-double on Christmas, and the host New York Knicks beat the depleted Atlanta Hawks 101-87 for their first win on the holiday in a decade.
“It was amazing,” Walker said. “Those are moments that you dream about. It’s kind of hard to put it into words, to be honest.”
Julius Randle had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks in a matchup of teams that met in the first round of last season’s playoffs. But the Hawks were missing Trae Young among nine players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, so it wasn’t much of a rematch of Atlanta’s five-game victory.
Walker finished with 10 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot guard raced around the floor trying desperately for his 10th rebound for much of the second half, finally getting it in the fourth quarter when Mitchell Robinson’s block came to him.
It was the first tripledouble on Christmas since Golden State’s Draymond Green in 2017, continuing Walker’s strong stretch since going from a ninegame stint out of the rotation to back in the starting lineup when the Knicks were short-handed.
He said he couldn’t have foreseen things turning so quickly.
“This is not how we pictured it,” he said. “I ain’t complaining, either.”
Fans in the sold-out crowd chanted “Kemba Walker! Kemba Walker!” for the New York native, who scored 44 points in a loss to Washington on Thursday.
“As a teammate, as a brother, I’m happy for him that he’s able to come out and be who he is,” Randle said. “I’m sure when he signed to come here this is kind of what he envisioned, playing the type of basketball that he’s playing right now.”
Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points for the Knicks, who snapped a six-game Christmas skid. They are 23-31 in their league-high 54 appearances, but hadn’t won one since 2011.
John Collins and Delon Wright each scored 20 points for the Hawks, who were playing on Christmas for the first time since
1989.
They had their six-game road winning streak snapped.
Cavs’ Bickerstaff gets extension
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff has received a multiyear contract extension for his role in the team’s dramatic turnaround.
Cleveland announced Bickerstaff ’s signing on Saturday. Terms of the deal were not released.
ESPN reported Bickerstaff is under contract through the 2026-27 season.
After winning just 22 games last season, the Cavs are 19-13 and fifth in the Eastern Conference.
The affable 42-year-old Bickerstaff took over when John Beilein walked away midway through the 2019 season.
Prior to coaching in Cleveland, Bickerstaff was an interim coach in Houston and Memphis.