Milwaukee Bucks try to build off skid-snapping win in NBA clash with Cleveland Cavaliers
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The Milwaukee Bucks's Giannis Antetokounmpo being guarded by Jalen Slawson of the Indiana Pacers during the Bucks' 134-123 NBA win on March 15, when the Bucks star injured his left knee.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MILWAUKEE – A lost National Basketball Association (NBA) season for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks continues on March 17 (March 18, Singapore time) when they host the stumbling Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Greek star is a game-time decision for the matchup, after injuring his left knee while landing on a spinning dunk in the third quarter of the Bucks’ 134-123 home win over the Indiana Pacers on March 15.
Milwaukee’s two-time NBA Most Valuable Player walked gingerly to the locker room with a left ankle sprain, and the team have listed him as questionable against the Cavaliers.
“I saw something live that didn’t look good, honestly,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “I can’t remember what I saw in the video, but yeah. We have no idea.”
Antetokounmpo had 31 points as Milwaukee snapped a four-game skid – their second win in the last 10 games – and crawled within 5½ games of the Charlotte Hornets for the final play-in tournament spot in the Eastern Conference.
The 10-time All-Star is averaging 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists in a career-low 36 games this season, after being sidelined with issues to his right calf and left ankle. His 31 missed contests make him ineligible for all post-season awards and most statistical leaderboards.
As a result, the Bucks have been forced to learn to live without Antetokounmpo, a situation that could become permanent if he pursues a trade over the summer.
“I just thought the ball moved and everybody got involved with that,” Rivers added, referring to Bobby Portis contributing 29 points and Ryan Rollins’ 20.
“And as a team, we took care of the ball and we made more threes.”
Cleveland sit fourth in the East and are on their way to the post-season, but have dropped six of their last 11 games. The positive momentum they built after acquiring James Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers has been blunted.
The Cavaliers’ latest loss was one of their worst of the season, a 130-120 home defeat by the Dallas Mavericks, in which Harden and Donovan Mitchell made a combined 14 of 36 field-goal attempts.
“It was a bad loss, no doubt about it,” said Mitchell.
“It was all sunshine and rainbows (after the Harden trade), but you have to kind of go through these moments and figure that out. We don’t have time to delay this, but I think this is good for us. We’ll figure things out.”
Meanwhile in NBA action on March 16, Jaylen Brown had 41 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead the Boston Celtics to a 120-112 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns.
Brown finished 19 of 21 from the free-throw line, with the makes and attempts both career-best figures. The Celtics also received 21 points from both Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, while Payton Pritchard added 19.
Elsewhere, Nickeil Alexander-Walker also scored 41 points – a career-high – as the Atlanta Hawks won their 10th consecutive game, a 124-112 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic.
Atlanta own the longest active winning streak in the NBA and it is also the team’s longest winning streak since their franchise-record 19-game run in the 2014-15 season. The result ended Orlando’s seven-game winning streak. REUTERS
