Giannis Antetokounmpo looked over at LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and thought about his past.
“I wasn’t supposed to be here,” the 210.82cm Greek Freak said, but it hardly looked that way on Thursday.
Antetokounmpo had 34 points and 11 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat James, Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers 111-104 in a showdown of the NBA’s top teams.
Photo: Jason Getz-USA TODAY
The reigning Most Valuable Player had seven assists and a career-best five three-pointers as Milwaukee improved to 25-4 after ending an 18-game winning streak against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
“I wasn’t the No. 1 pick — AD [Anthony Davis] was, LeBron was,” Antetokounmpo said. “I wasn’t supposed to be here. I wasn’t supposed to go up against these two beasts. So I’m just happy that I’m here and happy that I’m going through the process — and I always want to be better, do better for my team, and that’s what gives me joy.”
James had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his seventh triple-double of the season, while Davis had 36 points and 10 rebounds.
Photo: AP
“You tip your hat off to him and we move forward,” Davis said of Antetokounmpo.
The Lakers dropped their second straight game and fell to 24-5, largely because their bench was outscored 34-4 by the Bucks’ reserves. George Hill had 21 points off the bench for Milwaukee.
The last time that two teams with 20 games over .500 played each other before Jan. 1 was in 1980. The Boston Celtics (28-8) played hosts the Phoenix Suns (32-8). Boston won 116-97.
“No matter what team we play, we come in with the same mentality to get better that night on both ends of the floor — and it just happened to be the Lakers tonight,” Hill said.
The Bucks led by six after the first quarter, then opened the second quarter with a 20-7 run.
The Lakers’ Davis and James combined to shoot six-for-20 in the first half and Los Angeles had 10 turnovers, giving the Bucks a 65-46 lead at the break.
The Lakers outscored the Bucks 68-46 in the second half to close the gap. The Lakers now head home after ending a five-game trip.
“We continue to build chemistry. We continue to build camaraderie,” James said. “Pretty much every time anyone does anything, we pretty much do it together on the road. Just kind of have that bunker mentality, that brotherhood when we hit the road.”
The Bucks improved to 3-0 against the two teams from Los Angeles, including a dominant 119-91 win over the Clippers at home on Dec. 6.
Also on Thursday, it was:
‧ Jazz 111, Hawks 106
‧ Bucks 111, Lakers 104
‧ Spurs 118, Nets 105
‧ Rockets 122, Clippers 117
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
RSS