Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points to lead six Milwaukee scorers in double figures as the visiting Bucks defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 130-113 on Tuesday night.
Khris Middleton added 23 points, Malcolm Brogdon scored 18, Eric Bledsoe and former Pelicans forward Nikola Mirotic had 14 each and Brook Lopez 13.
Elfrid Payton had his second consecutive triple-double for the Pelicans, who lost their fourth straight, finishing with 14 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and 11 assists. He is the first New Orleans player to have a triple-double in consecutive games since Chris Paul did it in 2008.
Julius Randle had 23 points, Anthony Davis had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Frank Jackson scored 14, Darius Miller 13, Cheick Diallo 11 and Ian Clark 10.
Milwaukee led by eight at halftime and Middleton and Brogdon made consecutive 3-pointers to help increase the lead to 68-54.
The Bucks pushed the lead to 84-62 on Bledsoe's 3-pointer before Davis got hot.
He scored 10 consecutive Pelicans points during the quarter, and New Orleans cut the deficit to 101-89 at the end of the third period.
Davis finished with 17 points in the quarter, but he did not play in the fourth quarter as has become the norm under the minutes restriction the Pelicans have imposed on him since his trade request at the end of January.
Tony Snell started the fourth-quarter scoring with a dunk for the Bucks, but the Pelicans pulled within 105-98.
Milwaukee scored the next eight points to take a 113-98 lead as New Orleans went scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes.
The Pelicans made 2 of 16 3-pointers in the first quarter, which ended with the score tied at 23.
The score was tied four more times in the second quarter before the Bucks made a run. Middleton and Donte DiVincenzo made consecutive 3-pointers as Milwaukee took a 52-44 lead.
The Bucks increased the margin to 10 before settling for a 56-48 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media
Milwaukee | New Orleans | |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 24 | Scoring | Julius Randle 23 |
Khris Middleton 7 | Assists | Elfrid Payton 11 |
Pat Connaughton 11 | Rebounds | Elfrid Payton 15 |
Giannis Antetokounmpo 10 | Free Throws Made | Darius Miller 4 |
Eric Bledsoe 2 | Steals | Solomon Hill 1 |
Brook Lopez 2 | Blocks | Anthony Davis 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Milwaukee | 130 | 49.5 | 10-36 | 24-28 | 27 | 52 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
New Orleans | 113 | 43.0 | 10-47 | 11-16 | 27 | 50 | 4 | 3 | 15 |