Giannis Antetokounmpo scores late to help the Bucks beat the Bulls 133–129 in overtime.
The Milwaukee Bucks had another tough game against the star-less Chicago Bulls. This time, though, the Bucks won 133–129 in OT at Fiserv Forum, which was different from their last game.
The Bulls beat the Heat in OT at the United Center on November 30 without Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
On Monday, they played with out LaVine and Alex Caruso, and the Bucks held Bulls center Nikola Vučević to a 37.5% shooting clip.
Still, DeRozan scored 41 points, which was the most of his season, and Coby White scored 33.
In the last seconds of regulation, the Bulls scored again, this time with DeRozan making a short jumper that would tie the match with 3.7 seconds left and send it to overtime.
The Bulls were still in the game after extra time because the Bucks botched three free throws. However, Damian Lillard made two with 10 seconds left to win the game 133–129.
“It was great to see how determined we were, you know?” Brook Lopez, center for the Bucks, said that his team held Chicago to 11 points in OT, five of which came from free throws.
Bucks center Brook Lopez said that whoever was put in charge did an amazing job of stepping in and taking the task.
The person who was on the floor. It used to be Giannis Antetokounmpo. Kharis (Middleton). Lady (Lillard). “Our guys were stepping up and taking on that challenge.”
The Hornets (7-15) are still one of the worst teams within the Eastern Conference, yet they beat the Wizards (11-12) by one point. They did it in front of their own fans.
Charlotte looked good right away and took an early 36-31 lead in the first quarter. But with a 38-28 score within the second quarter, they would pull away for good.
It should have been easy for the Hornets to win the rest for the game since they were ahead by 15 points. The gap was even bigger following the third quarter, when Charlotte beat their opponents 33–29.
Things got tougher for the Hornets in the last 12 minutes, though, as the Wizards scored 28 points and let them score only 10. But they came close to making a comeback but failed.
There were no scores in the last 2:30 minutes of the game. The Wizards had a chance to win, but Daniel Gafford, Bradley Beal, or Kristaps Porzingis all missed shots that would have won the game.
The best player on the Hornets in this game was Terry Rozier, who scored 25 points and had eight assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points, grabbed two boards, and made two assists.
Mason Plumlee had a double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists, while P.J. Washington scored 21 points and had five assists and three rebounds. Nick Richards scored 12 points after coming off the bench.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 33 points, seven assists, and six boards. Kristaps Porzingis scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Kyle Kuzma scored 14 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, dished out 3 assists, and blocked 1 shot.
With 12 points, six rebounds, and six assists, Monte Morris had a great game. Also, Daniel Gafford had a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards. Corey Kispert scored 14 points off the bench.