Bucks win as Antetokounmpo scores 23 in return from back injury

Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed two games with a back injury, tallied 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks breezed to a 123-102 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

Khris Middleton scored a team-high 25 points and Eric Bledsoe scored 15 points in his return from a leg injury for the first place Bucks, who won their third consecutive game.

Reigning NBA MVP Antetokounmpo had missed the previous two games because of back soreness, while Bledsoe had not played since Dec.13.

Antetokounmpo, the league’s second-leading scorer with an average of 30.5 points per game, played just 27 minutes and sat out the final five because of the one-sided margin.

“We won 30 games before January; It’s cool, but we can always do better,” Antetokounmpo said of the Bucks who have the best record in the league at 30-5. “We’ve got to keep improving because the goal is to play late in the season.”

Bulls guard Zach LaVine scored a team-high 19 points, Lauri Markkanen added 18 points and Wendell Carter finished with a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Milwaukee shot a superb 71 percent from the field in the third quarter, putting the game out of reach by outscoring the Bulls 40-25 to increase their lead to 95-77.

Bucks guard Wesley Matthews sat out with a bruised right thigh.

“He’s been playing through it and I think it’s at a stage where him not playing is the right move,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Hopefully, it’s just a short-term thing.”

Elsewhere, Jordan McRae scored 29 points as the short-handed Washington Wizards snapped the Miami Heat’s five-game winning streak with a 123-105 win.

Garrison Mathews scored 28 and Ian Mahinmi added a career-high 25 points for the Wizards.

Jimmy Butler scored 27 points, and Bam Adebayo added 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Heat, who had been riding the league’s longest win streak. Mathews scored 20 points in the second quarter for the Wizards who entered the game having lost nine of 11.

Washington were missing seven players due to injuries, including two-time all-star shooting guard Bradley Beal, who is out with a sore right knee. Beal leads the team in scoring (27.8 points) and assists (6.7).

Beal had played 194 straight games before missing the past two contests.

The Wizards also played without John Wall (foot), Davis Bertans (quad), starting centre Thomas Bryant (foot), rookie Rui Hachimura (groin), C.J. Miles (wrist) and Moritz Wagner (ankle).

Meanwhile, Shabazz Napier scored eight of his season-high 24 points in overtime as the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a nine-game home losing streak with a 122-115 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night in Minneapolis.

Rookie Jarrett Culver added a career-high 21 points for the Wolves, who made 7 of 10 shots in overtime and shot 40.4 percent overall. Keita Bates-Diop added 15 points, and Robert Covington contributed 14.

Minnesota’s Gorgui Dieng collected 11 points and 20 rebounds while starting in place of Karl-Anthony Towns (sprained left knee) for the seventh straight game.

Spencer Dinwiddie led all scorers with 36 points on 12-of-31 shooting for the Nets, who blew a five-point lead in the final two-plus minutes of regulation and lost their third straight game.

Elsewhere. Brandon Goodwin scored a career-high 21 points and helped Atlanta come back from an 18-point deficit to end its 10-game losing streak with a road win over Orlando.

Goodwin, playing only his fifth game of the season on a two-way contract, shot 7-for-11 from the field, 3-for-4 of 3-point attempts, and had six assists. His previous best was five points.

Atlanta’s Alex Len added 18 points and 12 rebounds, Kevin Huerter scored 19, and rookie De’Andre Hunter scored 16.

Agencies