Local Sports

Bucks Blast Pacers

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points and Khris Middleton added 27 to help the Milwaukee Bucks bounce back from their first consecutive losses of the season with a 117-98 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night.

 

Milwaukee, which improved to an NBA-best 49-16, was coming off back-to-back losses to Utah and Phoenix after opening a five-game road trip with three victories.

 

The Bucks ran off 13 consecutive points after Antetokounmpo was assessed a technical midway through the third quarter, one possession after he was knocked down attempting a shot, with no foul called. The Pacers missed the technical free throw and the Bucks responded with a 13-0 run.

 

Antetokounmpo started the spurt with a dunk and finished it with another to put Milwaukee up 80-64 with 2:56 left in the period.

 

The Bucks padded their lead with a 12-0 spurt early in the fourth quarter. Kyle O'Quinn opened the final period with a floater from the lane to bring the Pacers within 10 at 84-74. Ersan Ilyasova hit a 3-pointer to trigger the run, capped by Antetokounmpo's drive to make it 96-74 with 8:21 left.

 

Myles Turner had 22 points and Bojan Bogdanovic 17 for the Pacers.

 

Bogdanovic hit a pair of 3-pointers to pull Indiana within three points at 67-64 before the technical on Antetokounmpo. Indiana's Thaddeus Young thought that was the turning point.

 

The Bucks opened their largest lead of the first half at 47-33 on two free throws by Antetokounmpo, but the Pacers went on a 17-7 run to close within 54-50 at the break.

 

Indiana is at Philadelphia on Sunday.

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