Category: Sports News

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons 113-109 despite losing the NBA's two-time Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo to injury early in the match.

Antetokounmpo, 30, fell to the floor in the third minute and had to be helped off court by his team-mates.

The Bucks trailed by 18 points in the first quarter, but fought back at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum to claim just their second win in 10 games.

Kevin Porter Jr registered 26 points for the Bucks, with Ryan Rollins adding 22 and AJ Green scoring 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to fuel the comeback.

"It was a hell of a win," Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said.

"We get down early, miss wide open, great shots, but we just couldn't get anything to fall.

"And Giannis gets hurt... to fight back, it just shows a lot of stuff about this team."

Detroit remain top of the Eastern Conference after their fifth loss of the season, with Milwaukee sitting 10th.

The Bucks initially thought Antetokounmpo had strained his right calf, but are awaiting confirmation after the Greek power forward had an MRI scan.

Before the match, rumours had emerged via ESPN that Antetokounmpo was "mulling his future" with the franchise.

But Rivers said there had been "no conversations" about a possible trade.

Elsewhere, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard combined for 48 points to help the Los Angeles Clippers end a five-game losing streak with a 115-92 win at the Atlanta Hawks.

Jamal Murray scored a season-high 52 points as the Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers 135-120 in Indianapolis.

After failing to ward off the Celtics in Boston on Tuesday, the Knicks were not going to let the same happen against the Hornets at home the next day.

Although the Hornets pulled within three after a one-sided second quarter, the Knicks hunkered down and took care of business, defeating Charlotte 119-104 on Wednesday night. 

New York started the second quarter up 15 points, but by the end of the first half, they had just a six-point lead. On the second of a back-to-back, the Knicks could have let the Hornets' get to them, but Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns weren't going to have it. Brunson scored 26 points on 56 percent shooting, a nice bounce back from his season-low performance against the Celtics.

While the Knicks big man scored a game-high 35 points and added 18 rebounds. 

"JB draws a lot of attention. Our team did a good job of utilizing the gravity when he was on the court and getting some good looks, getting some turnovers," Towns said of the team's effort. "I thought we did a great job defensively, making them speed up their game and playing Knicks basketball, which is translate turnovers to offense." 

"We could have easily chalked it up and said we tried," Brunson added. "Continue to fight, continue to stick together. Find a way to make plays defensively, got out in the open court, a good way to bounce back tonight."

Towns shot 13 of 23 from the field (3-for-7 from three) and often dominated the smaller Hornets lineup. But gave credit to the Knicks captain for his offensive outburst.

"When you got one of the best players league like JB, like I said, the gravity he attracts, it allows us a chance to do something special," he said. "Taking opportunities the defense was giving me, while doing that, being aggressive, whether it was scoring or passing to my teammates." 

Reason for Josh Hart starting

Wednesday was Hart's sixth straight game starting. With OG Anunoby out of the lineup due to a hamstring injury, head coach Mike Brown has decided to shift Hart into the starting lineup, but it took some time for the first-year Knicks coach to pull the trigger.

Hart started most of the games last year, but began the season as a bench player. The combo guard/forward has accepted whatever role Brown gives him, but the Knicks coach said the decision was thanks from a push by his staff.

"I rely on my staff. I had reasons why I started [Hart on the bench], but my staff, all of them, was like ‘hey, these are the reasons why it would be better,’" Brown explained. "The reality of it is, I just listen to my staff. If I’m the only one thinking it would be better at that time, then maybe I’m wrong.

"I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again in the future. That’s what I love about my staff, we have guys who are not afraid…to tell me what they think. I’m not always going to listen to them, but if my whole staff is telling me something, I better open my eyes and ears and figure out what they are really trying to say and maybe follow their lead instead of my lead all the time."

Hart scored 15 points on 4 of 11 shooting with eight rebounds and eight assists in 36 minutes on Wednesday. He's averaging 17 points per game since he was inserted into the starting lineup, while he scored just 12.5 points per game while on the bench this season.

Yabusele's changing role

Guerschon Yabusele has been a solid bench piece in his first year in New York, but his role has seeming changed as the season has gone along. Brown was asked about Yabusele not being used as a ball-screener like he was in the beginning of the season, and the head coach had an explanation for it. 

"Our five is usually the one that’s setting the screens. He’s playing the four right now," Brown said. "There’s a lot of ways he can get involved as the four. For instance, on a made bucket, if he takes it out he’s going to be involved in the action right away. It all depends on where he is and where he’s sprinting to as we’re going down the floor determines how much he’ll be involved. It’s hard to get pick-and-pop stuff with the way we play if you’re not playing that center spot." 

While the Knicks haven't carved out much of a role for Ariel Hukporti off the bench, the second-year center discovered an unconventional way to appease his coaches and teammates on the court.

It was Hukporti himself who capped his playing time in the Knicks' beatdown over the Hornets on Wednesday night, as he fouled out in just 13 minutes of action. And the stat line wasn't pretty -- he scored zero points, committed two turnovers, and failed to record a defensive rebound.

But jammed in between the excessive fouls were a few strong efforts in the paint from Hukporti. To his credit, he blocked a pair of shots from Hornets leaders LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel, and Knicks head coach Mike Brown praised the unusual performance by giving him an amusing accolade.

"I don't know if I've ever done this before, and I've been doing this a while, but our defensive player of the game was Ariel," Brown said after the win. "And he had zero defensive rebounds and fouled out. Interesting. Having said that, his impact was huge. He had a couple blocks, 50-50 balls. He went vertical a couple times and changed shots in the paint."

Hukporti's limited production -- he wound up logging a plus-minus of plus-6 -- was also acknowledged by Karl-Anthony Towns, who manhandled the Hornets with a team-high 35 points and 18 rebounds. Towns appreciated his teammate not wasting a single second of an opportunity.

"He used every one of those fouls. I appreciate that," Towns said of Hukporti. "He was special. His ability to come into the game, always staying ready, being a professional, always working on his game. It was a night we needed him. I don’t think we win this game without him making the contributions that he did."

Hukporti, who's actually started twice for the Knicks this season, is only averaging 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 points across 12 games. But, as he demonstrated against the Hornets, some valuable court activity isn't always accounted for.