Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 131-121 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night in New York.
With the win, the Bucks' magic number for clinching home-court advantage throughout the playoffs is one. The Toronto Raptors kept pace with Bucks in the race for the best record in the league by beating the Orlando Magic on Monday.
The Nets remained a half-game ahead of the Detroit Pistons in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Detroit lost to Indiana.
All five Bucks starters scored in double figures, led by Eric Bledsoe with 29 points.
D'Angelo Russell paced the Nets with 28 points, and Caris LeVert added 24.
The Bucks scored the game's first six points and opened a 26-9 lead on Bledsoe's jumper. Milwaukee's lead ballooned to 35-13 on Brook Lopez's jump shot with 1:39 left in in the first period.
The Nets scored the final seven points of the first to cut the Milwaukee lead to 35-20.
Brooklyn continued to claw back and cut the deficit to 59-54 at halftime behind Russell and LeVert, who combined to score 29 points in the first half.
The Nets tied the game at 61-all on Jarrett Allen's jumper less than two minutes into the third period. Russell gave Brooklyn its first lead of the game with a 27-foot, 3-pointer at the 8:42 mark.
The teams traded baskets and the lead 18 times until Bledsoe gave the Bucks the lead for good at 85-84 with 1:50 left in the third.
The Bucks took a 91-89 lead entering the fourth, and Antetokounmpo went to work. His jumper and two free throws pushed the lead to 95-89. Moments later, his jumper gave the Bucks a 100-91 edge.
Brooklyn cut the deficit to 103-100 on Joe Harris' 3-point jumper, but Bledsoe and George Hill scored six straight, and the Bucks hung on from there.
--Field Level Media
Milwaukee | Brooklyn | |
Eric Bledsoe 29 | Scoring | D'Angelo Russell 28 |
Eric Bledsoe 7 | Assists | Caris LeVert 6 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 11 | Rebounds | Ed Davis 14 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 9 | Free Throws Made | DeMarre Carroll 6 |
Eric Bledsoe 5 | Steals | Jared Dudley 2 |
Brook Lopez 4 | Blocks | Jarrett Allen 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Milwaukee | 131 | 50.0 | 11-34 | 26-30 | 28 | 40 | 7 | 15 | 15 |
Brooklyn | 121 | 41.5 | 16-44 | 27-34 | 19 | 55 | 5 | 6 | 23 |