The Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo had a phenomenal offensive overflow on Wednesday night with a ‘tripole-double’ to guide the Milwaukee Bucks in an overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors 104-101 in an intense day of the NBA.
The Greek superstar scored 30 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and had 10 assiststhe last to set up Grayson Allen’s decisive 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play and rescue Milwaukee’s victory.
“You can’t do it alone. You have to trust your teammates, make plays for them,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m trying to be aggressive (…) but at the end of the day everyone is sucking me up and the guy is open. That last play, Grayson was wide open and I was able to give him the ball.”
It was the 31st triple-double of Antetokounmpo’s career and the sixth time he had 30 points and 20 rebounds in the same game.and his heroism came one night after scoring a career-high 55 points in another victory.
Antetokounmpo was not happy with a 28-7 run by the Raptors to close out regulation, Toronto thus tied the game 97-97 at the last second on a 3-pointer by Gary Trent Jr. to force overtime.
“We can’t put ourselves in that position,” Antetokounmpo said. “We were up 15 with two minutes to go. They came from behind, leveled the game, sent it to extra time. But I think we did a good job keeping our composure and executing in extra time, finding open spots and defending, and we were able to finally get the victory”.
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Shooter Fred VanVleet, who led Toronto with 28 points, missed a potential tying 3-pointer on the Raptors’ final shot.
– Bulls end Nets’ streak –
All-Star DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams each scored 22 points and Nikola Vucevic added 21 points plus a game-high 13 rebounds to lead Chicago over the Brooklyn Nets 121-112.
The Bulls (17-21) thus broke Brooklyn’s 12-game winning streak when a win would have moved the Nets (25-13) into the Eastern Conference leadership level with the Boston Celtics.
Instead, they share second place with the Bucks, one game behind the Celtics.
Chicago’s win spoiled a 44-point effort from Brooklyn star Kevin Durant, while Kyrie Irving added 25 points and Seth Curry had 22 coming off the bench.
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Fellow Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden had 26 points and eight assists, while Tobias Harris, De’Anthony Melton and Montrezl Harrell each added 19 cards to lift the 76ers past the Indiana Pacers 129-126 in overtime.
The 76ers (23-14) were playing without their great star Joel Embiid from Cameroon due to pain in his left foot.but they still snapped Indiana’s four-game winning streak.
A Harris bunt with six seconds to go brought the Sixers’ level to 120-120 to force overtime. Harris made two free throws with four seconds remaining in the extra session to create the final margin.
Indiana’s Buddy Hield, who led the Pacers with 24 points, missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
– Results of Wednesday in the NBA:
Cleveland a Phoenix 90-88
Philadelphia to Indiana 129-126 (in overtime)
The Knicks in San Antonio 117-114
New Orleans a Houston 119-108
Minnesota and Portland 113-106
Orlando a Oklahoma City 126-115
Memphis a Charlotte 131-107
Milwaukee at Toronto 104-101 (in overtime)
Chicago a Brooklyn 121-112
Detroit a Golden State 122-119
Atlanta a Sacramento 120-117
LA Lakers a Miami 112-109