The Milwaukee Bucks have now won five straight and improve their record to 10-4 after defeating the Washington Wizards on Monday night, 142-129. The Bucks handed the Wizards their sixth straight loss, with their record now sitting at 2-11. This won’t be the first matchup for the Bucks and Wizards this week however; The Wizards will travel to Fiserv Forum on Friday to play Milwaukee in the In-Season Tournament series.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Scores 42 for the Milwaukee Bucks
As the Bucks gear up to face off old friend Jrue Holiday and the Boston Celtics, they kicked off their week handling business and continuing to win games. Milwaukee was able to score a season-high 142 points and tied a season-high of 70 points in the first half alone.
Giannis Antetokounmpo missed just three shots, scoring 42 points on 20-of-23 shooting. He went 2-for-6 at the line, and also had 13 rebounds and eight assists. Damian Lillard added to those efforts with 22 points on 5-of-14 shooting, knocking down five rebounds and seven assists.
All starting five in Milwaukee’s lineup as able to score double digits as Khris Middleton had 18 on 6-of-12 shooting, Brook Lopez and Malik Beasley each had 16 points, respectively. Bobby Portis came off the bench and scored 17 points and had eight rebounds for the Bucks.
Washington was able to get an early lead on the Bucks in the beginning thanks to layups by Kyle Kuzma and Deni Avdija, getting out to a 13-5 lead before Milwaukee’s head coach Adrian Griffin called a time-out. After that timeout however, the Bucks responded with an 11-2 run and after 12 minutes of play, the Bucks were out in front 31-27.
It was hard for Washington to bounce back from that, but they were able to cut a 14-point deficit down to five at the half. Entering the final frame, Kuzma laid down a pair of threes that cut the Bucks’ lead to just two, and the Wizards had a one-point lead in the fourth quarter thanks to a Corey Kispert and-1. However, the Bucks would finish out the game strong, leading to the Wizards’ demise.
Milwaukee’s own Jordan Poole had a season-high 30 points for the Wizards, shooting 11-for-26 and 3-for-9 from behind the three-point. Kyle Kuzma added 22, Daniel Gafford had 14, Tyus Jones had 18, and both Corey Kispert and Bilal Coulibaly had 12 off the bench for Washington.
Khris Middleton Climbs up All-Time Scoring List
Khris Middleton missed Saturday’s game against the Mavericks but was on the court Monday against Washington where he passed Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief for No. 4 on the Milwaukee Bucks’ all-time scoring list, sitting now at 11,600. Middleton now sits under Glenn Robinson (No. 3, 12,010 points), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (No. 2, 14, 211 points), and fellow teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo (No. 1, 16,673) on the list.
Up Next for the Milwaukee Bucks:
The Milwaukee Bucks are heading out to Boston for a highly-anticipated matchup against the Celtics. This will be the first time since the Damian Lillard trade that the Bucks will see old friend Jrue Holiday in a different shade of green. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30PM on Wednesday.
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