![](Feb 02, 2020MILWAUKEE The Milwaukee Bucks have lost 28 games since the start of last season. Only once did they follow one defeat with another.Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 19 rebounds, and the Bucks rebounded yet again by beating the Phoenix Suns 129-108 Sunday - two days after a loss to Denver."A good response," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Not our best, but a steady, good response.”Antetokounmpo reached the 30-point mark for the 26th time, and fellow All-Star Khris Middleton had 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Brook Lopez added 17 points, and the Bucks shot 49.5% and made 15 of 38 from 3-point range.Devin Booker scored 32 points and spurred a third-quarter surge by Phoenix, and the deficit dropped to nine when DeAndre Ayton dropped a hook shot with 3:51 left in the quarter. Milwaukee responded with three straight 3-pointers - including back-to-back from Dante DiVincenzo - to snuff out the rally."It was a game until they hit those three 3s in a row," Phoenix coach Monty Williams said. "I'm proud of the way the guys competed." Ayton had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and the Suns shot 39% and made just 6 of 23 from deep.TIP-INSSuns: G Ricky Rubio (right ankle), G Ty Jerome (left calf) and PF Dario Saric (ankle) sat out, leaving coach Monty Williams with just 11 players. ... SF Elie Okobo made his third start of the season in place of Rubio, and PF Tariq Owens, PG Jalen Lecque and PG Jared Harper were recalled from Northern Arizona of the G-League. Frank Kaminsky and Aron Baynes also sat out. Baynes was active but remained on the sideline with a hip injury.Bucks: PG Dante DiVincenzo scored 15 points after missing Milwaukee's game Friday against Denver with a sprained left ankle. ... The Bucks are still without George Hill, who also missed Friday's game with a strained right hamstring. ... The Bucks' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 8. ... Milwaukee scored at least 100 points for a 73rd consecutive game.SIZE MATTERSLopez took advantage of the undermanned and undersized Suns by blocking a career-high nine shots - one off the Bucks' franchise record."It was a team effort," Lopez said. "Phoenix got some easy (shots) in the beginning of the game. We came out a little loose (defensively) but we definitely tightened up and it shows." WELCOME TO THE SHOWBarely 24 hours after scoring six points for G-League Northern Arizona, Tariq Owens found himself up against Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP, who barreled past him for an easy transition basket.“I was just trying to get a stop,” Owens said. "He's one of those players I like watch film on so to be in the game and Giannis is the first person I have to guard is kind of a dream come true." Owens scored 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting and grabbed two offensive rebounds in his first seven minutes.GOOD IMPRESSIONBooker told Owens and Jaylen Lecque, a 19-year-old who was making a name for himself with highlight-reel dunks in the G-League, to relax and trust their teammates as they got their first taste of NBA action."Just play hard. Leave a mark, don't be hesitant," Booker said. "We''ll take care of you guys out there, just come ready to play."Getting called up from the G-League and playing Milwaukee is a tough task but they showed a lot heart." UP NEXTSuns: A three-game road trip continues Monday night in Brooklyn. The Nets will be without injured star Kyrie Irving.Bucks: After getting a day off Monday, the Bucks play Tuesday night against rookie Zion Williamson and the Pelicans in New Orleans.---More NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Feb 01, 2020Two superstars who were unhappy with the All-Star selections this week go head-to-head on Super Bowl Sunday when the Milwaukee Bucks host the Phoenix Suns in an afternoon affair.Both teams are coming off a loss, perhaps the result of having been a bit distracted by what they considered to be omissions on the lists of All-Star reserves announced earlier in the week.After Giannis Antetokounmpo had complained that the Bucks, who easily sport the best record in the NBA at 41-7, deserved more than two All-Stars, the club didn't perform like the league's best when overwhelmed by travel-weary Denver in the second half of a 127-115 home defeat on Friday night."We weren't very good," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer observed to reporters afterward. "Got to coach better, play better, smarter." Playing without George Hill (strained left hamstring) and Donte DiVincenzo (sore left ankle), the Bucks were down to just one of their top three ballhandlers. But that was Eric Bledsoe, the guy Antetokounmpo insisted belonged on the All-Star team.Bledsoe put up decent numbers with 15 points and seven assists in his 32 minutes, but the veteran's minus-12 plus/minus was the game's second worst.The loss ended a nine-game winning streak and put the Bucks in a position where they have thrived this season. They responded to each of their previous six losses with a win, five times igniting winning streaks of at least three games.Milwaukee will put its 22-3 home record up against a team that's been much better on the road than in its own arena this season. The Suns have won six of their last nine road games, with Portland, Boston, San Antonio and Dallas being among the victims.The shockingly easy 133-104 win at Dallas on Tuesday came immediately before a 111-107 home loss to Oklahoma City on Friday in a game in which Devin Booker went for 27 points.That snapped a string of three straight with 30 or more points for Booker, whose perceived snub in the All-Star selections received disapproval from many points on the NBA map, including his own comments in Phoenix."It was always a goal of mine," he admitted to reporters in the wake of the announcement. "It just re-proves the point that the NBA is different than the game that I fell in love with at the beginning -- of all the best players in the All-Star Game -- growing up, watching it. Now it's an entertainment-, drama-, political-field league.Booker and Antetokounmpo have gone head-to-head five times in their careers, with Booker holding a 3-2 advantage in points scored.Phoenix swept the two-game season series last year, winning at Milwaukee despite Antetokounmpo's 35 points, then taking the rematch in Phoenix when Booker outscored the league's Most Valuable Player 22-21.The meeting between the Bucks and Suns will be their first of the season, with Milwaukee already having gone 5-0 against the other four Pacific Division teams.Phoenix has countered by going 9-6 against Eastern Conference clubs, as opposed to just 11-22 against rivals from the West.--Field Level Media
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