Milwaukee Bucks beat Nets in OT
NEW YORK - Giannis Antetokounmpo passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become Milwaukee's career scoring leader on a 3-pointer that forced overtime, and then made two free throws in the final seconds to give the Bucks a 120-119 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night.
The defending NBA champions clinched a return to the postseason with the win, in which Antetokounmpo had 44 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton had 16 before being ejected for a flagrant foul midway through the third quarter.
Kevin Durant had 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Nets, but missed a 3-pointer that would have won it. Kyrie Irving scored 25 points and Bruce Brown had 23.
Just as in the memorable end to their second-round series last summer, when the Bucks overcame 48 points from Durant — most ever in a Game 7 — overtime was needed to determine a winner. Milwaukee took that one 115-111 and pulled it out Thursday behind a second straight 40-point game from Antetokounmpo.
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He came into the game 39 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's career scoring leader who had 14,211 points after beginning his career in Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo passed him with a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left that knotted it at 110.
The Bucks and Nets could be headed for a first-round matchup this year. The Bucks are a half-game behind Miami for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, while the Nets are tied for eighth and can likely hope for nothing better than the No. 7 or 8 seed by coming out of the play-in tournament.
The Bucks led by four in overtime but the Nets rallied to take a 119-118 lead when Durant was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three shots with 8.7 seconds left. Antetokounmpo quickly rushed into the lane and was fouled by Nic Claxton. He made both free throws and finished 15 of 19 from the line.
Brooklyn took control before Middleton's ejection, with Seth Curry scoring five straight points to give the Nets the lead and Brown scoring to make it 99-96 with 5 1/2 minutes to play.
Antetokounmpo re-entered the game but threw a bad pass that Brown grabbed and appeared to be on his way to an uncontested layup. But Middleton raced back and grabbed Brown’s upper arm as he was in the air, sending him to a hard landing. Referees reviewed the replay and informed a stunned Middleton that he received the harsher Flagrant 2 and was ejected.
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Brown made the free throws, Irving scored and the Nets’ built a 108-99 lead when Durant threw down Irving’s lob pass with 3:52 left.
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