NBA: Antetokounmpo powers Bucks to 128-111 win over Warriors

LOS ANGELES – It was going great for the Golden State Warriors right from the start of their National Basketball Association game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.

First, they forced the Bucks to a shot-clock violation because of their tight defence, then they drained a three-pointer in their first offensive possession before racing to a 7-0 lead, thanks to two Klay Thompson jumpers.

But that was about as good as it got as they quickly lost control in the first quarter, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks piling more road misery on the defending champions by thumping them 128-111.

“In the road losses, our defence has been bad,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr lamented.

“For whatever reason, the splits are pretty dramatic. Our defence is pretty good at home and bad on the road. We’ve got to turn that around.”

The Warriors, coming off

a convincing victory over the league-leading Boston Celtics in San Francisco,

were hoping this trip would signal a reversal of their road fortunes.

Instead, they fell to 2-12 away from home, 14-14 overall, in a testy encounter between the last two NBA champions that saw the frustrated Warriors slapped with five technical fouls.

Three of those came in the first quarter, when Stephen Curry was furious at the lack of a foul call when he was shooting a three-pointer, and Kerr continued the argument to earn a “T”.

“I was already mad at several non-calls in the paint,” Kerr said. “I felt like we were on the bad end of things to start the game. And then Steph Curry gets hit on the head on a three-point shot.”

“That needs to be called,” the coach added, noting that Curry’s unusual intense reaction was indication enough that a foul occurred.

“If Steph gets a technical, he definitely got fouled.”

Trailing by 14 points early in the second quarter, the Warriors pulled within six before the Bucks closed the first half on a 6-0 scoring run on the way to a 12-point half-time lead.

The third quarter brought no relief, with the Bucks jumping to a 26-point lead midway through the period.

Milwaukee, led by 30 points and 12 rebounds from Antetokounmpo, outscored the Warriors 48-30 in the paint and had 16 fast-break points to the Warriors’ seven.

They out-rebounded the Warriors 55-37 and, with the game out of hand, Kerr pulled his starters, no doubt hoping the rest will help when they tackle the Pacers in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Bobby Portis added 25 points off the bench and Khris Middleton added 20 for Milwaukee, who improved to 20-7 and inched closer to Boston atop the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics (22-7), meanwhile, thwarted a furious late rally by the Los Angeles Lakers to win 122-118 in overtime and snap a two-game skid.

They bounced back from defeats by the Warriors in San Francisco and the Clippers in Los Angeles, but they needed every ounce of energy and will to avoid their first three-game losing streak this season.

“Oh, man, last game of the road trip, we’ve been going for, like, 13 days, second night of a back-to-back,” said Jayson Tatum, whose 44 points included a game-tying turn-around jumper over LeBron James that sent the contest into overtime.

“But we found a way. We needed that. We found a way to get back on track,” said Tatum.

Jaylen Brown added 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Marcus Smart scored 18 points for the Celtics, who appeared headed to victory when they took a 20-point lead on Tatum’s floater with 6min 57sec left in the third quarter.

But the Lakers, with 37 points from Anthony Davis and 33 from James, roared back, putting together an 18-0 run from late in the third that was capped by a James three-pointer that put Los Angeles up by four with 8:55 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers (11-16) pushed their lead to 13 points before the weary Celtics were able to respond. AFP