NEW YORK (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, nearly getting his fourth triple-double in the last 11 games by halftime, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Brooklyn Nets 109-100 on Sunday night.
Antetokounmpo already had 12 points, nine assists and eight rebounds by the half on his way to becoming the first Bucks player with four triple-doubles in a season. All of them have come since Feb. 22.
Jabari Parker added 23 points, and Khris Middleton had 19 points to help the Bucks win their third straight game.
Brook Lopez scored 20 points for the Nets, who dropped their fourth in a row. Sean Kilpatrick added 19 in his first home game with the Nets after they returned from a franchise-record, nine-game trip.
Data curated by PointAfter
The Nets committed 12 turnovers that led to 17 points in the fourth quarter as Milwaukee seized control after trailing 79-78 through three.
Antetokounmpo, who had a highlight dunk in the first half when he jumped from just near the foul line on the fast break, set up Miles Plumlee’s dunk that put Milwaukee ahead for good at 99-98 with 3:21 to play. The Bucks kept expanding it from there on a finishing 12-2 run, helped repeatedly by the Nets’ turnovers that sent Antetokounmpo leading a fast break in the other direction.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Because of plane trouble, the Bucks didn’t get into New York until early Sunday afternoon. Their plane wasn’t able to take off Saturday night after their victory over New Orleans in Milwaukee, so they remained there overnight. ... Antetokounmpo’s seven assists in the first quarter matched the high for a Bucks player in any period this season.
Nets: Brooklyn was swept in the three-game season series. The Nets dropped the first two in their first seven games of the season. ... G Wayne Ellington missed the game with an upper respiratory infection. ... Brooklyn wore “Los Nets” jerseys as part of the NBA’s Latin Nights series.
WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO?
Lopez is the only player remaining from the Brooklyn team that Kidd coached to the second round in the 2013-14 season. Kidd got the Bucks job that July in what began the team’s breakup. Paul Pierce wasn’t re-signed and many more moves followed.
“That happens in sports. Change happens all the time, from coaches to players, so the teams that tend to win are the ones who stick together, are together for a long time,” Kidd said. “You look at Golden State, you look at San Antonio, you look at Oklahoma City, those are the teams that are atop the NBA and those are the teams that tend to win, so for Brooklyn or Milwaukee, we’re all trying to strive to be consistent.”
