Brandon Harley
BUCKS WIN OVER MAVERICKS 132-125
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 40 points and Damian Lillard added 27 for the Milwaukee Bucks. They defeated Kyrie Irving who scored 39 and Luka Doncic who contributed 35 for the Mavericks. They extended their winning streak to four games with a 132-125 victory on Saturday night.
Antetokounmpo is on a mission. He averaged 41.3 points in his last three games before being held to 16 Friday night in Charlotte. Against the Mavericks, he connected on 18 of 26 shots including a pair of 3-pointers and grabbed 14 rebounds to complement along with seven assists.
When asked about the win Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said, “It was a great character win." “Back-to-back, short-handed … but everyone stepped up and it was a total team win.”
Milwaukee trailed 109-99 with 9:04 left in the game before embarking on a 13-4 run, including seven from Antetokounmpo to get back within a point with 5:17 remaining. Luckily for the Bucks, Doncic missed a pair of free throws that would have given Dallas breathing room. Following Antetokounmpo's free throws, Lillard made all three of his free throw attempts after being fouled by Irving, extending Milwaukee's lead to four with 4:34 left in the game. With 1:26 remaining, Irving made a three-point play to bring the Mavericks within 127-125. However, Pat Connaughton hit a 3-pointer 21 seconds later. Dallas, which hit just 3 of 15 3-point attempts while losing 43-27 in the final quarter, couldn’t recover