UNDATED (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points, Bobby Portis scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half and the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Orlando Magic 127-110 on Tuesday night. Milwaukee has won four in a row and five of its last seven.
Khris Middleton scored 21 points for the Bucks, while Jrue Holiday chipped in 18 points and 10 assists. Orlando rookie forward Franz Wagner scored 27 of his career-best 38 points in the second half. He made 12 of 20 shots and 4 of 8 3s.
Elsewhere in the NBA:
— Tyrese Haliburton had 24 points and 10 assists, and the Sacramento Kings held off the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-111. Buddy Hield added 21 points off the bench for the Kings. Harrison Barnes scored 17 and De’Aaron Fox had 12 points and eight assists. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points for the Thunder. Earlier in the day, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault, rookie Josh Giddey and forward Derrick Favors entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Assistant coach Mike Wilks ran the team in Daigneault’s absence.
— Stephen Curry became the first player in NBA history to make 3,000 career 3-pointers Tuesday night in a game where the Denver Nuggets barely held off the NBA-leading Golden State Warriors 89-86. Denver’s Nikola Jokic blocked a potential game-tying shot by Jonathan Kuminga in the final seconds after his team nearly blew a 24-point halftime lead. Jokic had 22 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and four steals. Andrew Wiggins had 21 points and eight rebounds for Golden State in his first game back from the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Curry scored 23.
— LeBron James and Russell Westbrook both had triple-doubles as the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a season-high,five-game skid with a 132-123 win over the Houston Rockets. James had 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and Westbrook scored 24 with 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Houston stuck around for most of the night, but James took over late to allow the Lakers to pull away and hand the Rockets their fifth consecutive loss.
— Tobias Harris had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists for his first career triple-double, Joel Embiid had 36 points and 11 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers hung on late to beat the Toronto Raptors 114-109 Tuesday. Georges Niang scored 19 points, Seth Curry had 12 and Furkan Korkmaz 10 as the 76ers won their second straight. Chris Boucher scored a season-high 28 points and matched his career-high with 19 rebounds, but the depleted Raptors lost their second straight.
— Garrett Temple nailed four 3-pointers in a 3:50 span of the fourth quarter and rookie Herb Jones scored a career-high 26 points to lift the New Orleans Pelicans to a 108-104 comeback victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers led by as many as 23 points in the first quarter but could not ward off a strong three quarters by the Pelicans. Ricky Rubio had 27 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists for Cleveland before injuring his left knee on a non-contact stop in the lane with 2:20 left. Rubio had to be carried off the court by teammates.
— Mitchell Robinson had 14 points and a season-high 18 rebounds, Julius Randle added 13 points and 15 boards, and the New York Knicks topped the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves 96-88. Evan Fournier scored 13, while Quentin Grimes added 11 off the bench for the Knicks in their second straight win. Malik Beasley had 20 points and Jaden McDaniels added 18 for Minnesota, which has lost three of four. Minnesota shot just 40% from the floor and a season-low 18.4% from 3-point range. New York shot 41.1% in the win but did connect on 16 of 40 from deep.
— Tyler Herro scored 32 points off the Miami bench, Jimmy Butler finished with 25 points and a career-best 15 assists, and the depleted Heat held off the depleted Washington Wizards 119-112. Duncan Robinson scored 26 for Miami, making eight 3-pointers on a night where the Heat got by with an eight-man rotation that might be facing a new challenge after Butler twisted his right ankle with 1:03 remaining.
Nets’ Irving clears NBA protocols, Hawks add to COVID list
UNDATED (AP) — Kyrie Irving is a step closer to making his season debut. The Eastern Conference-leading Brooklyn Nets announced today that Irving, along with Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge, have cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols — a major step toward getting them back on the court.
But the Atlanta Hawks added three more players to their list, and Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault is now sidelined as well.
The league began Tuesday with about 120 players in the protocols. Numbers tend to change frequently as players test in and out over the course of each day.
