Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 10 rebounds, and the streaking Milwaukee Bucks continued their dominance over the Detroit Pistons with a 104-90 victory on Saturday.
Wesley Matthews contributed 13 points, Eric Bledsoe tossed in 11 and George Hill chipped in nine for the host Bucks, who pulled away in the final quarter to stretch their winning streak to seven games. Reserve Sterling Brown had seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Milwaukee swept the four-game regular season series and a best-of-seven playoff series against Detroit last season.
Derrick Rose scored 20 points off the bench for the Pistons. Langston Galloway had 13 points, Andre Drummond contributed 12 points and 17 rebounds and Markieff Morris added 11 points.
Pistons star Blake Griffin was rested on the second game of a back-to-back. The team's other starting forward, Tony Snell, sat out with a hip injury. Snell was traded by Milwaukee during the offseason.
Detroit has lost six of its last seven games.
Milwaukee led 24-12 with less than three minutes remaining in the opening quarter but the Pistons finished it with a 12-3 run to close the deficit to three points.
Bledsoe made a layup midway through the second quarter to get the Bucks' lead to nine at 43-34. An Antetokounmpo dunk with just under three minutes to go in the half pushed the advantage to 11. The Bucks settled for a 54-47 halftime lead.
The Bucks had a 6-0 spurt, including four by Matthews, to make it 71-54 midway through the third quarter. The Pistons then scored eight unanswered points, including a 3-pointer by Rose, to reduce Milwaukee's advantage to nine.
A layup by Rose in the final minute of the quarter made it 77-69 heading into the fourth.
Milwaukee scored the first 12 points of the quarter to turn the game into a blowout.
Antetokounmpo scored the first of those points on a 3-point shot. Hill drained another open three to push the Bucks' lead to 14.
Antetokounmpo had a putback and another layup during that stretch. The Pistons didn't dent the scoreboard until Galloway drained a 3-pointer with 5:47 remaining.
--Field Level Media
Detroit | Milwaukee | |
Derrick Rose 20 | Scoring | Giannis Antetokounmpo 28 |
Derrick Rose 6 | Assists | Eric Bledsoe 5 |
Andre Drummond 17 | Rebounds | Giannis Antetokounmpo 10 |
Andre Drummond 2 | Free Throws Made | Giannis Antetokounmpo 3 |
Bruce Brown 2 | Steals | Giannis Antetokounmpo 2 |
Bruce Brown 1 | Blocks | Brook Lopez 4 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Detroit | 90 | 40.7 | 10-35 | 6-10 | 22 | 40 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
Milwaukee | 104 | 48.8 | 13-37 | 9-18 | 25 | 49 | 8 | 10 | 21 |