Giannis Antetokounmpo broke Milwaukee’s career assists record before leaving the game because of a sprained right wrist, and the Bucks won their 12th straight, beating the Chicago Bulls 112-100 on Thursday night.
Brook Lopez scored a season-high 33 points. Jevon Carter had 22, and Jrue Holiday added 15 points and nine assists.
The Bucks were never seriously threatened. But Antetokounmpo’s injury early in the second quarter cast a cloud over a team that appeared to have so much going for it heading into the All-Star break.
The two-time MVP was hurt trying to block a finger roll attempt by Chicago’s Coby White after the guard drove past him. He jammed his wrist against the stanchion and stayed down grimacing in pain.
Antetokounmpo finished with a season-low two points and three assists, giving him 3,274 over 10 seasons to break Paul Pressey´s record of 3,272 from 1982 to 1990. He also had seven rebounds.
Despite becoming the Bucks’ career assists leader, Giannis sprained his wrist against the Bulls
It now remains to be seen whether the ‘Greek Freak’ will play in All-Star game on February 19
Brook Lopez scored a season-high 33 pts to keep the Bucks second in the East behind Boston
Antetokounmpo matched the assists mark when he fed Lopez for a 3-pointer two minutes into the game and broke it when he passed to Carter for another 3 that bumped Milwaukee´s lead to 19-10 in the first quarter. He also is the Bucks´ career leader in blocks, triple-doubles, free throws made, free throws attempted and minutes.
The Bulls lost their sixth in a row, their worst skid since dropping six straight in the 2020-21 season. Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 16 rebounds.
WIZARDS 114-106 TIMBERWOLVES
The Washington Wizards looked ready to start their All-Star break early, before Bradley Beal helped snap them out of their funk. This new-look, still-adjusting team has been starting to turn a corner.
Beal had 13 of his 35 points over the final four-and-a-half minutes to help the Wizards finish their rally from a 20-point first-quarter deficit and beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-106 on Thursday night.
Kyle Kuzma – who had 16 points on just six-for-21 shooting – swished a top-of-the-key fadeaway from deep for a 107-106 lead that was Washington’s first of the game with 1:14 to go.
‘We’ve just got to keep building these habits that we’re doing right now,’ Kuzma said. ‘I think we’re playing great team ball right now.’
Beal, who topped the 30-point mark for the third time in four games, followed with a three-pointer with 37 seconds left – after a miss by Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards – to make it 110-106.
The Wizards played clinic basketball in their hot pink ‘City Edition’ uniforms against Minnesota
‘Probably this is the best game for me this season so far, because of how we showed our heart, we stayed in the game, we kept playing,’ said Kristaps Porzingis, who had 14 points. ‘Some guys were already like checked out a little bit. We locked back in and we pulled it out of somewhere.’
Corey Kispert scored 15 points off the bench to offset off nights by Kuzma and Porzingis and help the Wizards (28-30) build on their recent momentum entering the All-Star break. They have won 10 of their last 14 and hold the 10th and final spot for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
‘We’re still learning each other, but now we feel like we can take off running,’ Beal said.
Edwards had 18 of his 34 points in the first quarter to help the Timberwolves surge to a 30-10 lead. They were still ahead 99-92 with 4:38 left after three free throws by Kyle Anderson, before Beal hit a wide-open 3-pointer to spark his late surge.
Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 19 rebounds for the Timberwolves (31-30), who were derailed by their characteristic mid-game lulls and missed an opportunity to move a season-best three games above the .500 mark.
The Timberwolves surged to a 15-point lead by the end of the first quarter but ended up losing
CLIPPERS 116-107 SUNS
Paul George and Terance Mann each scored 26 points and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns 116-107 on Thursday night in the final NBA game before the All-Star break.
Kahwi Leonard added 16 points, all in the second half, and nine rebounds. Ivica Zubac and Eric Gordon each scored 13 points and Zubac had 12 rebounds.
The Suns missed nine of their first 10 3-point attempts, with only Josh Okogie warming up later in the game. Okogie led Phoenix with 24 points.
He was six-of-12 from behind the arc, but the rest of the Suns made five combined.
Devin Booker had 19 points and nine assists for Phoenix. Deandre Ayton scored 18 points and newcomer Terrance Ross had 16 points.
Terance Mann led the Clippers in scoring with a 26 point-performance, along with Paul George
Booker was one-of-six from 3-point range, but tied Steve Nash’s franchise record with 1,051 three’s.
Chris Paul had 11 assists, two nights after having a season-high 19 vs. Sacramento.
The Clippers have scored 100 or more points in 20 of their last 21 games.
The loss was the Suns’ first against a Pacific Division opponent in 10 games, and the Clippers moved ahead of Phoenix into second place going into the All-Star break.
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