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MILWAUKEE – Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 25 points and Khris Middleton added 23 as the Milwaukee Bucks edged the Detroit Pistons, 130-115, on Wednesday night (Thursday Manila time) for their third straight win.
This was the second time in three nights that the Bucks and Pistons have met in Milwaukee. The Bucks (5-3) beat the Pistons 125-115 on Monday and have now won their last nine regular-season meetings with Detroit.
The Pistons (1-7) had dropped 10 points or less in each of their first six losses, but they never had many chances in this one. Milwaukee (5-3) was up 82-56 at halftime and led to 34 in the third quarter and slid to victory.
Detroit’s Jerami Grant had 31 points to lead all scorers.
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The Bucks improved to 4-0 at home, where they are outperforming teams by an average margin of 23.5 points. The Bucks end their current five-game home streak by hosting Utah on Friday and Cleveland on Saturday.
Brook Lopez scored 17 points, Bobby Portis had 16, rookie Jordan Nwora had 11 and Jrue Holiday added 10 for the Bucks.
Saddiq Bey scored 20 points, Wayne Ellington 12 and Derrick Rose 10 for the Pistons.
Rose left the game early with a right knee injury.
The game got a little irritable in the final minutes with a physical game that included Antetokounmpo falling to the ground after tangling with Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart. Antetokounmpo went to the Pistons bench after the game and exchanged words with Stewart before they parted ways.
MAKING A DECLARATION
The night after a prosecutor decided not to press charges against a white police officer who shot a black man in Wisconsin, both the Bucks and the Pistons offered their response early in the game.
After the Bucks won the kickoff, Antetokounmpo held the ball while all the other players from both teams knelt. After the subsequent pass inside Detroit, Griffin held the ball while all the other players returned to their knees.
Jacob Blake was paralyzed after Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey shot him in the back multiple times on August 23. The Bucks did not play a first-round playoff game with the Orlando Magic last summer to protest that shooting.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced Tuesday that no charges would be filed because he could not rebut Sheskey’s claim that he acted in self-defense out of fear that Blake would stab him. In a pregame shooting practice, Lopez called the decision “obviously disappointing, very discouraging.”
TIPS
Pistons: Rookie guard Killian Hayes broke the labrum in his right hip during the third quarter of Monday’s game. The Pistons announced the severity of Hayes’ injury Wednesday without offering a schedule for his possible return. Hayes was the seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft. He had averaged 4.6 points and 21.1 minutes in his first seven games.
Bucks: Milwaukee was 19 of 43 from 3-point range and barely reached 20 3-pointers in a game for the fourth time this season. Before this year, the Bucks had scored at least 20 3s in a game just four times in franchise history.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
The Bucks host Utah on Friday as they continue this five-game home run. This will be the first time that these two teams have met since November 25, 2019.
The Pistons return home to face Phoenix on Friday. Detroit has swept its two regular-season meetings with the Suns each of the past three years.
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