Damian Lillard on Thursday scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and came up with two late steals as the Milwaukee Bucks bounced back from a loss to NBA leaders Boston with a 115-108 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
Lillard added 12 assists and Milwaukee’s two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a two-game injury absence to score 21 points with nine rebounds and five assists to help the Bucks grind out a win on the second night of a back-to-back.
Lillard was key on both ends of the floor. It was tied at 96-96 with less than five minutes remaining when he poked the ball away from driving Brooklyn guard Cam Thomas, launching a fast break capped by a three-point play by Antetokounmpo.
Photo: AP
Milwaukee were up 103-101 with 1 minute, 41 seconds to play when Lillard grabbed another steal and found Malik Beasley for a three-pointer.
Lillard drained a three-pointer himself with 1:11 remaining and his trey with 41 seconds to go pushed Milwaukee’s lead to 10 points.
“Dame, defensively, was phenomenal — all game,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s a very competitive guy and you could see that tonight.”
Photo: Isaiah J. Downing-USA Today
Antetokounmpo, who had missed two games with hamstring trouble, scored nine points in the first quarter as the Bucks took a 26-19 lead. They led by as many as 20 in the first half before the Nets, led by 24 points from Mikal Bridges, worked their way back.
“I like how we kind of gathered ourselves,” Rivers said. “They took the lead, we came back and got stops. We didn’t play well the beginning of the third.”
“The first half, the ball was hopping. It was beautiful, and then we kind of went back to that hold-the-ball, no-movement style,” Rivers added. “We had to play ourselves through that.”
Defending champions the Denver Nuggets continued their late-season surge with a 113-100 home victory over the New York Knicks, while Luka Doncic and the Mavericks put on a show in a 113-97 victory over the Utah Jazz in Dallas.
Michael Porter Jr connected on 13 of 16 shots to score 31 points for Denver, his highlight-reel night including an alley-oop pass to himself off the glass.
Nikola Jokic delivered his 22nd triple-double of the season with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists.
The Nuggets, 13-2 since the All-Star break, are neck and neck with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the race for first place in the West.
“I think we all collectively realize we’re not going to be able to turn it on in the playoffs so we’re trying to get our rhythm, get our flow before then,” Porter said of the Nuggets’ sense of urgency.
Denver were also eager to avenge an embarrassing 38-point loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in January.
“We felt like we owed them from the last game in New York,” Porter said.
Jalen Brunson scored 26 points for the Knicks, who cut a 12-point deficit to two in the fourth quarter, before Denver coach Michael Malone sent his starters back on and the Nuggets pulled away.
In Dallas, Doncic scored 34 points with nine rebounds and eight assists as the Mavs threw down 18 dunks on the way to a third straight victory.
In Orlando, Florida, Magic forward Paolo Banchero scored 20 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists, his second career triple-double helping the hosts to a 121-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Magic notched their fifth straight win.
In addition to absorbing the defeat, the Pelicans saw forward Brandon Ingram depart early in the second half with an apparent knee injury.
Elsewhere, the Rockets bullied the Bulls 127-117 and the Wizards crushed the Kings 109-102.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS