Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Pat Connaughton added 20 points off the bench as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the depleted Denver Nuggets 120-109 on Friday for their sixth straight win.
Antetokounmpo hit 10 of 13 shots in just 30 minutes and the Bucks never trailed in winning by double digits for the third straight game.
A matchup of the past two MVPs did not happen, as Nikola Jokic, who won last season in becoming the first Denver player to capture the award, missed his fourth straight game with a sprained right wrist.
Michael Porter Jr has not played since Nov. 6 due to lower-back soreness and P.J. Dozier sustained a torn ACL in his left knee on Tuesday in Portland.
Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Will Barton scored 17 and Facu Campazzo finished with 16 points for Denver.
Milwaukee threatened to run the Nuggets the court from the start. The Bucks led 24-8 early in the first quarter and were up by 17 points in the second quarter before Denver made a run to get within 48-43 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left in the period.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Clippers 107, Pistons 96
‧ Grizzlies 100, Hawks 132
‧ Hornets 133, T’wolves 115
‧ Jazz 97, Pelicans 98
‧ Knicks 97, Suns 118
‧ Magic 88, Bulls 123
‧ Pacers 114, Raptors 97
‧ Spurs 96, Celtics 88
‧ Thunder 99, Wizards 101
‧ Warriors 118, Trail Blazers 103
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite