Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Pat Connaughton added 20 points off the bench as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the depleted Denver Nuggets 120-109 on Friday for their sixth straight win.
Antetokounmpo hit 10 of 13 shots in just 30 minutes and the Bucks never trailed in winning by double digits for the third straight game.
A matchup of the past two MVPs did not happen, as Nikola Jokic, who won last season in becoming the first Denver player to capture the award, missed his fourth straight game with a sprained right wrist.
Michael Porter Jr has not played since Nov. 6 due to lower-back soreness and P.J. Dozier sustained a torn ACL in his left knee on Tuesday in Portland.
Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Will Barton scored 17 and Facu Campazzo finished with 16 points for Denver.
Milwaukee threatened to run the Nuggets the court from the start. The Bucks led 24-8 early in the first quarter and were up by 17 points in the second quarter before Denver made a run to get within 48-43 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left in the period.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Clippers 107, Pistons 96
‧ Grizzlies 100, Hawks 132
‧ Hornets 133, T’wolves 115
‧ Jazz 97, Pelicans 98
‧ Knicks 97, Suns 118
‧ Magic 88, Bulls 123
‧ Pacers 114, Raptors 97
‧ Spurs 96, Celtics 88
‧ Thunder 99, Wizards 101
‧ Warriors 118, Trail Blazers 103
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but