Giannis Antetokounmpo's 33 points and 12 rebounds helped the Milwaukee Bucks open a six-game road trip with a 123-105 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.
Antetokounmpo also had four assists and four blocks as the Bucks picked up their third consecutive win. Milwaukee beat the Cavaliers for the second time this season in the first of a back-to-back set on back-to-back days in Cleveland.
Milwaukee broke open a close game with a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter, outscoring Cleveland 29-16 in the final period. The Cavaliers lost their second in a row and have dropped four of their past five and six of their past eight games.
Cleveland had seven players score in double figures, led by Collin Sexton's 19 points. Andre Drummond had an impact inside with 18 points and nine rebounds. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen each posted 13 points while Cedi Osman and Taurean Prince had 12 points each.
The Bucks overcame an uncharacteristically poor shooting performance from 3-point range by attacking the paint and getting good looks inside against one of the better teams in the league at defending the rim.
Milwaukee outscored Cleveland 74-58 in the paint against a Cavaliers squad which entered the game allowing 45.1 points per game in that area.
The Bucks, who entered the game shooting 40.0 percent from 3-point range through 21 games and had five games of making 20 or more triples, shot just 7-for-22 (31.8 percent) from deep on Friday. But the Bucks connected on four of those triples in the fourth quarter.
Milwaukee missed its first seven 3-point attempts until Donte DiVincenzo's triple with 7:27 left in the second quarter.
Jrue Holiday finished with 17 points, seven assists and three rebounds while DiVincenzo recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Khris Middleton finished with 15 points and five assists, Brook Lopez had 13 points and Bobby Portis finished with 14 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Isaac Okoro had 10 points for Cleveland.
--Field Level Media
Milwaukee | Cleveland | |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 33 | Scoring | Collin Sexton 19 |
Jrue Holiday 7 | Assists | Andre Drummond 4 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 12 | Rebounds | Andre Drummond 9 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 6 | Free Throws Made | Jarrett Allen 6 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 1 | Steals | Andre Drummond 2 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 4 | Blocks | Jarrett Allen 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Milwaukee | 123 | 51.5 | 7-22 | 16-22 | 28 | 54 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
Cleveland | 105 | 44.6 | 11-32 | 12-16 | 23 | 36 | 9 | 7 | 11 |