Un Giannis Antetokounmpo huge with 44 points leader this Thursday a heart attack victory for the Milwaukee Bucks at the house of Brooklyn Nets after an extension (119-120).
The Milwaukee Bucks (48-28), who have won 12 of their last 15 gamesare going through a great moment of form and are in a fierce fight for the places of honor in the East with the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics.
For their part, the Brooklyn Nets (40-37) could have beaten the Bucks if Kevin Durant had put his two attempts on the buzzerone at the end of the last quarter and another at the end of extra time.
Kevin Durant’s bad luck: that’s how he stayed after missing the decisive shot!
In the Bucks, the unstoppable Antetokounmpo contributed 44 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists and was accompanied by Jrue Holiday (19 points and 8 rebounds) and Khris Middleton (16 points and 9 rebounds). but ejected in the fourth quarter for a hard foul on Bruce Brown).
those of Milwaukee suffered in the triples (12 of 41) and with its 22 losses ball, but they clearly dominated the rebound (57 to 41 of their rivals)
On the Nets, who have only won two of their last five games, Kevin Durant (26 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists), Kyrie Irving (25 points) and Bruce Brown (23 points) were the standouts).
Antetokounmpo aguanta …
In a start with many failures in both teams, Bruce Brown was the only one who found the way to the basket with a two-handed dunk and a triple (5-0 with 9:19 to go).
The first quarter was played with nerve and many errorsbut also with spectacular dunks and triples by both teams, and with a basket to the hoop past the Slovenian Goran Dragic the Nets went ahead (30-23).
Kyrie Irving exploded in the second quarter with 9 points in a couple of minutes but Giannis Antetokounmpo was there to prevent the Nets from escaping (42-39 with 8.12 for the break).
Giannis Antetokounmpo does a three on one
The Nets came to have a sale of 11 points in the quarter, but the Greek star reached 20 points in the first half (16 only in the second quarter) and cut the advantage of the Brooklyn before going to the locker room (60 -56).
… And Antetokounmpo gets the victory
As, Giannis, with an “alley-oop” served by Holiday, doubled the Nets rim and put the Bucks ahead just a few seconds before the end of the third quarter (86-87).
Seth Curry asked for a pass from the triple and gave the Nets control of the game again (97-96 with 6.09 to go).
The Bucks seemed to lose concentration and Durant, from three and with an “alley oop” assisted by Irving, opened the gap for the locals (108-99 with 3.43 on the clock).
they didn’t give up the Bucks, who with a fantastic triple after Antetokounmpo’s step backwith only 19 seconds to go, forced overtime (110-110) as Durant missed the game-winning shot at the buzzer.
Holiday lent a hand to Antetokounmpo for a Bucks that were close to victory (115-118 with 2.26 in extra time).
However, Durant was fouled on the 3-pointer, made all three free throws and put his team ahead (119-118 with 8.7 seconds left).
The final answer was given by the usual Bucks, Antetokounmpo, who found no rival to stop him all night and who from the free throws he signed a great victory for the Milwaukee team once Durant missed one last 3-pointer in desperation.
