Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo capped a 27-point performance on a three-point play with 5.9 seconds remaining Tuesday to spark the Milwaukee Bucks over visiting Cleveland 119-116 in an NBA thriller. The Cavaliers were led by 39 points from LeBron James as Cleveland made a furious fourth-quarter rally only to fall short at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center.
The Bucks (16-13) snapped a three-game losing streak overall and had dropped their past five meetings with Cleveland, which used a 24-2 run to battle back. Dwyane Wade had 14 points and Jeff Green 13 but each had nine in the fourth quarter. Eric Bledsoe added 16 points for Milwaukee, which trailed 113-112 after James scored six points in a row late in the fourth quarter. Milwaukee’s Tony Snell followed with a 3-pointer and Antetokounmpo added a 3-point play to help deliver the victory.
“You’ve got to play to the last minute. I got the ball in my hands and I was able to do it,” the Green standout said. “We wanted to play tough and move the ball offensively. That’s what we did and that’s why we got the win.” Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova returned to Milwaukee’s starting lineup after missing 15 games with left knee tendinitis.
Sacramento forward Zach Randolph took advantage of the absence of Philadelphia scoring and rebound leader Joel Embiid to produce 27 points as the visiting Kings rallied to defeat the 76ers 101-96. Sacramento’s Buddy Hield scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter for Kings, who erased a 16-point third-quarter deficit to end a two-game losing streak.
