Photo: The Canadian Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) —
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and a season-high 19 rebounds, Khris Middleton recorded his second career triple-double and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-93 on Sunday.
Middleton had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for her first triple-double since January 20, 2018.
Milwaukee opened a close game in the second half as Oklahoma City fell to the Western Conference lead. The reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets did not play on Sunday and moved ahead of the Thunder by a half-game.
Oklahoma City posted its lowest point total and shot its lowest percentage (.371) of the season. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points — the first time since Jan. 19 he was held below 20 — and missed the entire fourth quarter after the Bucks took a lopsided lead.
76ERS 121, MOWERS 107
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tobias Harris scored 24 points and Tyrese Maxey added 19 of 24 in the second half of Philadelphia’s win over James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harden had 12 points and 14 assists in his first game against the 76ers since leaving Philadelphia last November. After going 0 of 6 on 3-pointers to boos from a small but vocal section of Sixers fans in Los Angeles, the 10-time All-Star and 2018 MVP will return to Philadelphia with the Clippers on Wednesday for the rematch .
Cameron Payne scored a game-high 23 points with five 3-pointers for the Sixers, who rebounded from a defeat against the Lakers Friday by scoring 18 3-pointers in their fourth win in 11 games.
Philadelphia blew a 17-point lead to the Clips before taking control with a 15-2 run to open the fourth quarter led by Maxey, who started slow and finished strong for the second straight game in Los Angeles.
Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points and Paul George 18 for the Clippers, who have lost five of eight and haven’t beaten a team with a winning record in three weeks.
TIMBERWOLVES 114, WARRIORS 110
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 23 points and made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 12 seconds to Minnesota in a victory over Golden State.
Naz Reid had 20 points and a season-high 12 rebounds and Rudy Gobert added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Wolves, who tied their season best with 21 3-pointers.
Steph Curry scored 31 points for the Warriors, but he missed the game-tying 3-point try with 1:27 left. Gobert converted both free throws at the other end to take a five-point lead.
After rebounding a forced 3-pointer from Edwards with 22.6 seconds left, Curry took the rebound all the way for a layup that cut the lead to one. But Edwards fouled out and made two foul shots. Then he rebounded Klay Thompson’s missed 3-pointer from the wing.
Mike Conley added 14 points and seven assists for the Wolves, who are a game behind Denver in the Western Conference race and a half-game back of Oklahoma City. The Nuggets overtook the Thunder, who lost at Milwaukee on Sunday.
PELICANS 114, PISTONS 104
DETROIT, Mich. (AP) — Zion Williamson scored 36 points and led New Orleans to a victory over short-handed Detroit.
Williamson shot 13 of 14 from the floor and 10 of 14 from the line in 36 minutes. He added seven rebounds and six assists and received applause from the Little Caesars Arena crowd when he left the game with 1:20 remaining.
CJ McCollum scored 23 points for the Pelicans, who won five of six.
The Pistons played without four of their five starters. Cade Cunningham (knee), Jalen Duren (back), Isaiah Stewart (hamstring) and Ausar Thompson (illness) missed the game, and sixth man Simone Fontecchio (toe) was also sidelined. Jaden Ivey was the only player available to score over 500 points this season.
Chimezu Metu and Malachi Flynn each scored 17 points for Detroit, which lost its sixth straight. Ivey added 16 points and Buddy Boeheim recorded a career-high 13. The Pistons need four wins in their final 11 games to avoid surpassing the franchise record of 66 losses.
HEAT 121, RIDERS 84
MIAMI (AP) — Haywood Highsmith scored 18 points, part of a 59-point effort by Miami’s reserves, and the Heat built what was its largest lead in more than a decade by beating Cleveland.
Bam Adebayo had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Jimmy Butler scored 15 points for the Heat, who led by 45 in the fourth quarter. Their largest lead this season on Sunday was 33, also against Cleveland on November 22, and the 45-point gap was the largest since they led Chicago by 46 in a playoff game on May 8, 2013.
Miami started the day seventh in the Eastern Conference and finished there as well, tied with Philadelphia at 39-32. The 76ers won against the Los Angeles Clippers earlier Sunday, but currently trail the Heat due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Evan Mobley scored 15 points for Cleveland, which lost for the seventh time in 10 games but remained No. 3 in the East, with a half-game lead over New York.
Terry Rozier and Thomas Bryant each scored 14 for Miami.
