Quick-fire Greek Freak leads Bucks past Pacers

MILWAUKEE • Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his third triple-double of the season on Wednesday, propelling the Milwaukee Bucks to a 130-110 victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers.

He needed just 31 minutes to put up 21 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and a season-high-tying 10 assists for the 21st triple-double of his career, the sixth accomplished in 31 or fewer minutes.

With his feat, he moved into a tie for 22nd on the National Basketball Association's (NBA) all-time list with four others, including Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Such was their control of the game that the Bucks (13-8) decided to rest the "Greek Freak" for most of the third quarter as well as the fourth.

With time to kill, the Most Valuable Player of the past two seasons decided to play team photographer instead, borrowing the camera of Bucks' director of content Nick Monroe to snap a series of shots.

On his decision to capture the game's closing moments, the forward said: "I was like, it would be a good idea to take some pictures of (my brother and teammate) Thanasis and make him look good. So I was trying to have fun and be in the moment."

The meeting was the first of the season for the Central Division rivals and also featured a get-together of all three of the Holiday brothers playing in the league.

Each of them scored in double figures. Jrue contributed 11 to the Milwaukee victory, while Justin had 15 points and Aaron 11 for Indiana.

Elsewhere, in Charlotte, Joel Embiid scored 34 points and Tobias Harris added 26 to help the Philadelphia 76ers (16-6), who lead the Eastern Conference ahead of the Bucks, complete a perfect three-game road trip with a 118-111 victory over the Hornets (10-12).

"Just getting downhill and making good decisions when I'm there," said Harris, who continues to make a strong case for his first career All-Star berth.

"The next thing is drawing more contact and fouls when I'm down there. And I have been looking for ways to do that."

Meanwhile, the NBA, which has had to postpone 23 games since Dec 23 because of Covid-19 protocols and also went through a stretch last month that turned up more than 20 positive tests, appears to have its virus situation under control.

The league announced on Wednesday that of the 482 players who have been tested since Jan 27, none returned a positive test.

This most recent report comes on the heels of the NBA's announcement on Jan 27 that from Jan 20, 492 players had been tested and just one of them returned a confirmed positive test.

In addition, just one game was postponed in the past week, and that was the result of an inconclusive coronavirus test, instead of a positive one.

REUTERS