Tag: Khris Middleton

Basket Ball / Sports

Giannis Antetokounmpo scores 47 points, Bucks deny Lakers

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 47 points and Khris Middleton tied Milwaukee’s franchise record for career 3-pointers as the Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 109-102 on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Middleton returned after missing eight games due to COVID-19, played 30 minutes and made consecutive 3-pointers 30 seconds apart early in the fourth quarter to put the Bucks ahead for good. The second of those 3s was his 1,051st with the Bucks to match Ray Allen for first place on the team’s all-time list.

“That’s a very, very special place to be,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think we all just admire what Khris does every night, his ability to shoot, the different ways he gets 3’s and his kind of consistency and longevity here.”

Allen holds the NBA record with 2,973 3-pointers in a career that also included stints with the Seattle Super Sonics, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

LeBron James missed an eighth straight game for the Lakers due to an abdominal strain. The Lakers have gone 3-5 during that stretch.

Los Angeles also is missing Trevor Ariza and Kendrick Nunn, who haven’t appeared in a game this season.

“It’s a part of the game,” said Anthony Davis, who scored 18 points for the Lakers. “Same thing with the team we just played. They’ve been hit with injuries as well. It kind of goes with the league, the business of the game. You go out there and put your body on the line every night, God forbid, something is going to happen in the course of a season. Someone’s going to get hurt. We’ve got to adjust and continue to fight until we get everybody back.

Talen Horton-Tucker scored 25 points for the Lakers two nights after getting a career-high 28 in a 121-103 loss to Chicago. Russell Westbrook had 19 points, Malik Monk 11 and Carmelo Anthony 10.

Antetokounmpo posted his highest point total since scoring 50 in a Game 6 Finals victory over the Phoenix Suns that clinched Milwaukee’s first title since 1971.

“I wanted

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Basket Ball / Sports

Milwaukee Bucks win first NBA championship since 1971 behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s legendary MVP showing

The Milwaukee Bucks were fairly quick champions after their inception. The team was founded in 1968, won a coin flip (ironically against the Phoenix Suns) for the right to draft Lew Alcindor a year later, and in 1971, they captured the franchise’s first championship. With their star big man in place, Milwaukee seemed likely to continue adding rings to its collection for years to come. That’s not how it happened.

Alcindor, who by then had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, asked to be traded and ultimately landed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Marques Johnson and Sidney Moncrief came up short. Ray Allen and Sam Cassell came up short. The Bucks had the No. 1 pick three more times after landing Alcindor, but passed on Bernard King in 1977, Jason Kidd in 1994 and Chris Paul in 2005. Their 2013 selection of a young forward from Greece looked like an afterthought for a team that could never quite make it over the hump.

But that unassuming young forward grew into an MVP. So dominant was Giannis Antetokounmpo that fans began to worry that, like Abdul-Jabbar before him, he would seek out greener pastures. But before the 2020-21 season, Antetokounmpo signed a five-year extension with the Bucks that signaled a commitment. He didn’t just want to win the championship. He wanted to win it in Milwaukee.

That dream became a reality on Tuesday as the Bucks won their first championship in 50 years as the Greek Freak made history with 50 points in a 105-98 Game 6 win, arguably one of the most historic performances we’ve seen in a clinching game. They defeated that very Suns team they flipped for Alcindor with decades earlier thanks to another strong outing from Antetokounmpo. That he got to win the title in front of his home fans in Milwaukee was the icing on the cake for a player who has become synonymous with the city he plays in.

Antetokounmpo grew up poor in Greece, and his acclimation to the United States was on full

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Basket Ball / Sports

Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez lead Milwaukee to pivotal Game 5 win

The Milwaukee Bucks are one game away from the NBA Finals. On Thursday, they hosted the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals with both sides missing key contributors. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, DeAndre Hunter and Donte DiVincenzo all remain out, but the Bucks did a better job of replacing their superstar’s production. After jumping ahead by as many as 20 points in the first half, the Bucks pulled out the victory, 123-112, to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Four players stood out. Brook Lopez led the way with a playoff career-high 33 points, but three of his teammates were hot on his trail. Khris Middleton scored 26 points of his own to go along with 25 from Jrue Holiday and 22 from Bobby Portis. Combined, they scored all but 17 of Milwaukee’s points for the game. It was a valiant effort from a hobbled Bogdan Bogdanovic to score 28 for the Hawks, but his teammates couldn’t give him enough support to steal this one.

The Bucks and Hawks will now travel to Atlanta for Game 6 on Saturday. If the Hawks win, Game 7 in Milwaukee will be on Monday. If the Bucks win? They’ll meet the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals. For now, here are the three biggest takeaways from Game 5.

1. Brook’s time machine

Before Brook Lopez was a stretch big man, he was a traditional low-post threat. He averaged over 20 points per game four times as a member of the Nets, and he got there primarily by punishing opposing bigs near the basket. As the NBA has grown smaller, his combination of size and skill has only grown deadlier inside. He just hasn’t played for a team that has allowed him to use those skills. As good as Lopez is near the basket, Giannis Antetokounmpo is simply better. So he spaces the floor for his MVP teammate and uses the bulk of his energy on defense.

Antetokounmpo’s absence changed the entire geometry of the floor for the Bucks. …