By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Greek Freak scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, outmuscling the Knicks to help the Milwaukee Bucks hold on for a 120-112 win.
“I think one thing that is really important is to never underestimate or undervalue the things that he does,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said about Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks took control with a 19-7 run over a six-plus minute stretch of the fourth to build a 16-point lead that withstood a late run by the Knicks. Antetokounmpo had his way getting to the bucket, while Middleton provided balance from the perimeter after his 3 with 5:03 left gave Milwaukee a 112-96 advantage. “We’ve got to be able to lock in even more now and finish the game — that’s what we did,” Antetokounmpo said.
Serb Nikola Jokic also scored 21 to help the Nuggets end a three-game home losing streak and stay in the thick of the playoff race by beating the Lakers 125-116.
In the best game of the night, the Toronto Raptors beat Houston 108-105, snapping the Rockets‘ 17-game winning streak. James Harden scored 40 points but the Rockets lost for the first time since Jan. 26 at New Orleans.
Lithuanian big man Jonas Valanciunas had 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Raptors won their seventh straight in a matchup between the respective conference leaders.
Croatian Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 points and Indiana routed the Atlanta Hawks 112-87, while Greek-American big man Kostas Koufos with 18 points and 13 rebounds led the Kings to the 94-88 win over Orlando.
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Here are last night’s results and euro-scorers.
|
99-83 |
Markkanen 6 p. 8 r. 2 as. |
||
|
112-87 |
Bogdanovic 21 p. 3 r. Sabonis 4 p. 3 r. – Schroder 15 p. 4 as., Dorsey 18 p. |
||
|
TORONTO RAPTORS |
HOUSTON ROCKETS |
108-105 |
Ibaka 11 p. 7 r. Valanciunas 14 p. 10 r. Poeltl 2 p. 4 r. – Capela 13 p. 13 r. |
|
78-95 |
Mark Gasol 9 p. 11 r. 6 as. – Gobert 4 p. 10 r., Rubio 15 p. 10 r. 5 as. Jerebko 4 p. 4 r. |
||
|
MILWAUKEE BUCKS |
NEW YORK KNICKS |
120-112 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 28 p. – Kanter 16 p. 8 r. Ntilikina 2 p. 3 r. 3 as. |
|
97-116 |
Mirotic 9 p. 12 r. – Gortat 6 p. 8 r. 2 as. Satoransky 8 p. 5 r. 9 as. Mahinmi 2 r. |
||
|
125-116 |
Jokic 21 p. 6 r. 6 as. Hernangomez 7 p. 4 r. – Zubac 5 p. 1 bl. |
||
|
125-108 |
Nurkic 10 p. 11 r. – Casspi 1 p. 2 r. Pachulia 1 r. |
||
|
94-88 |
Bogdanovic 8 p. 10 as. Kufos 18 p. 13 r. – Hezonja 11 p. Vucevic 13 p. |
||
|
116-102 |
Teodosic 3 p. 6 as. Marjanovic 6 p. – Zizic 4 p. Osman 3 p. |
Standings
|
#
|
TEAM
|
PTS
|
MP
|
W
|
L
|
POINTS
|
+/-
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EASTERN | ||||||||
|
1
|
TORONTO RAPTORS
|
65
|
48
|
17
|
7275 – 6719
|
556
|
||
|
2
|
66
|
46
|
20
|
6901 – 6613
|
288
|
|||
|
3
|
66
|
38
|
28
|
7003 – 6897
|
106
|
|||
|
4
|
66
|
38
|
28
|
7078 – 6957
|
121
|
|||
|
5
|
64
|
35
|
29
|
6894 – 6770
|
124
|
|||
|
6
|
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
|
66
|
35
|
31
|
6918 – 6950
|
-32
|
||
|
7
|
66
|
35
|
31
|
6734 – 6742
|
-8
|
|||
|
8
|
66
|
30
|
36
|
6803 – 6869
|
-66
|
|||
|
9
|
66
|
28
|
38
|
7036 – 7080
|
-44
|
|||
|
10
|
NEW YORK KNICKS
|
66
|
24
|
42
|
6862 – 7080
|
-218
|
||
|
11
|
65
|
22
|
43
|
6698 – 7100
|
-402
|
|||
|
12
|
66
|
21
|
45
|
6997 – 7259
|
-262
|
|||
|
13
|
ATLANTA HAWKS
|
66
|
20
|
46
|
6819 – 7145
|
-326
|
||
|
14
|
66
|
20
|
46
|
6940 – 7223
|
-283
|
|||
| WESTERN | ||||||||
|
1
|
HOUSTON ROCKETS
|
65
|
51
|
14
|
7404 – 6839
|
565
|
||
|
2
|
66
|
51
|
15
|
7645 – 7110
|
535
|
|||
|
3
|
66
|
40
|
26
|
6972 – 6810
|
162
|
|||
|
4
|
65
|
38
|
27
|
7296 – 7254
|
42
|
|||
|
5
|
65
|
37
|
28
|
6657 – 6472
|
185
|
|||
|
6
|
67
|
38
|
29
|
7153 – 6955
|
198
|
|||
|
7
|
67
|
38
|
29
|
7352 – 7180
|
172
|
|||
|
8
|
66
|
36
|
30
|
6772 – 6624
|
148
|
|||
|
9
|
DENVER NUGGETS
|
66
|
36
|
30
|
7186 – 7122
|
64
|
||
|
10
|
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
|
65
|
29
|
36
|
7048 – 7161
|
-113
|
||
|
11
|
SACRAMENTO KINGS
|
66
|
21
|
45
|
6544 – 7051
|
-507
|
||
|
12
|
65
|
20
|
45
|
6658 – 6834
|
-176
|
|||
|
13
|
67
|
19
|
48
|
6994 – 7595
|
-601
|
|||
|
14
|
65
|
18
|
47
|
6420 – 6737
|
-317
|
|||