Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo dunks through the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks apparently just needed the All-Star break to find play winning basketball under recent coach Doc Rivers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points, Damian Lillard had 23 and Bobby Portis added 21 because the Bucks pounded the Charlotte Hornets 123-85 on Tuesday night for his or her most lopsided victory of this NBA season.
“That is who we’re,” Antetokounmpo said. “That is who we’re attempting to be.”
Milwaukee has won three straight because the All-Star break to enhance to 6-7 since Rivers’ arrival.
Giannis punches the reverse with ease 👀
Hornets-Bucks | Continue to exist the NBA App
📲 https://t.co/Q7J0nXQJ59 pic.twitter.com/0PpS80gSuf— NBA (@NBA) February 28, 2024
“We had time, like six or seven days, to type of think what this coaching staff and what the team expects from us,” Antetokounmpo said. “Getting back from the break, I feel everybody got the chance to speak about everybody’s role and what the team expects from us so we are able to keep each other accountable.”
Milwaukee rolled to a 58-26 lead on the break by holding Charlotte to the bottom point total any team had produced in a half all season. This represented the second-lowest point total the Bucks had ever allowed in the primary half of a game, behind the 25 they yielded in a 94-81 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on March 3, 1972.
The Bucks have given up fewer than 100 points in 4 of their last seven contests after reaching that goal only once of their first 52 games of the season.
“It’s type of cool to see us playing how we all know play,” Portis said.
This blowout enabled the Bucks to present their two biggest stars some extra rest as they began a four-day stretch by which they play three games. Lillard had nine rebounds and 7 assists before leaving the sport with 5 ½ minutes left within the third quarter. Antetokounmpo departed 1 ½ minutes later.
Brook Lopez went scoreless but had two blocks to maneuver into second place on the Bucks’ profession list with 806, breaking a tie with Alton Lister. Antetokounmpo is the Bucks’ profession blocks leader with 966.
Lopez has 1,876 blocks over his 16-year profession, including a franchise-record 972 with the Brooklyn Nets from 2008-17.
Miles Bridges scored 17, Tre Mann 16, Brandon Miller 14 and Davis Bertans 12 for the Hornets, who lost for just the second time of their last seven games.
The Bucks have romped in each of their three matchups with the Hornets this season. They won 130-99 in Charlotte on Nov. 17 and 120-84 in Milwaukee on Feb. 9.
Charlotte had overhauled its roster because the last time these teams faced one another by acquiring Mann, Bertans, Grant Williams, Vasa Micic and Seth Curry on the trade deadline. Those players had helped the Hornets surge the past couple of weeks, but they couldn’t do anything to stop the Bucks.
“Straight away, watching them on film and again tonight, you possibly can tell they sense that they’re starting to be ok with one another,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford said of the Bucks. “They’re beginning to get a feel for a way they need to play, and so they’re fidgeting with great confidence and energy.”
The Bucks had missed their first five 3-point attempts before Lillard made a move that sent Charlotte’s Cody Martin sprawling to the ground and hit a wide-open 3-pointer to interrupt an 11-all tie.
That spectacular play was a part of a 15-0 run for the Bucks that turned an 11-9 deficit right into a 24-11 lead. Lillard scored eight points during that stretch and capped the spurt with one other 3-pointer.
UP NEXT
The Hornets and Bucks face off again Thursday night in Charlotte.
