Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks shook off any All-Star break hangover in a hurry.
Antetokounmpo on Thursday scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and Khris Middleton hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds as the NBA-leading Bucks held off the Boston Celtics 98-97.
On the second-to-last possesion, Marcus Smart forced a jump ball with Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo tipped the jump to Brook Lopez, who deflected it toward the basket, but missed as the shot clock expired.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The referees huddled during the timeout and put 3.5 seconds on the clock for the Celtics.
Crew chief Mike Callahan explained the call to a pool reporter after the game.
“With 0.2 seconds, the 24-second clock did not start until Lopez possessed the ball,” Callahan said. “When he possesses the ball, you cannot have a legal shot attempt with 0.2 on the shot clock.”
Callahan explained that “a legal tip play can occur with 0.1 or 0.2 of a second.”
Smart inbounded the ball over the towering Lopez and dropped a pass into Kyrie Irving’s hands at the top of the key. With Eric Bledsoe draped all over him, Irving drove the lane, seemed to stumble and missed an awkward shot as time expired.
The Bucks won the season series 2-1, their first over the Celtics since 2014-2015.
The Celtics drew up a final play that put the ball in Irving’s hands.
“Kyrie with the ball. That’s what we wanted,” Al Horford said. “Get the ball in Kyrie’s hands. Let him create. I felt like we put ourselves in a good position there.”
Irving was philosophical.
“It happens,” Irving said. “Just part of the break, and coming off and playing the first game, getting the cold ones out.”
Antetokounmpo added 13 rebounds, Middleton had 15 points and a season-high 13 rebounds, and Malcolm Brogdon had 15 points for the Bucks.
They have won 15 of the past 17 games, including nine of the past 10, to improve to 44-14 and a season-high 30 games over .500.
Horford added 21 points and a season-high 17 rebounds for Boston, while Jayson Tatum had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Also on Thursday, it was:
‧ 76ers 106, Heat 102
‧ Cavaliers 111, Suns 98
‧ Trail Blazers 113, Nets 99
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite