Giannis Antetokounmpo put up 33 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds to help lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 125-119 victory over the Washington Wizards, giving him his sixth triple-double of the season.
Russell Westbrook, who had a triple-double of his own with 42 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, tied the game up with a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left in the game.
However, it was Khris Middleton who was the hero down the stretch, as he made two free-throws on the following possession. Back on defense, Middleton stepped up once again by standing his ground heavily contesting what would’ve been an easy layup for Westbrook on the drive. After that, Middleton sank another pair of free-throws to all but put this game away for the Bucks.
“I was just trying to keep him front, not foul him and try to contest,” Middleton said. “At the end of the day, I just wanted him to shoot the shot over me instead of blowing by me.”
The Wizards were largely in control in the second quarter and even held a lead of as many as 12. However, Alex Len put his arm around Antetokounmpo’s neck on the drive to the rim at the 1:15 mark when Washington was still up by 10. Len was ultimately called for the flagrant 1 foul.
Antetokounmpo made both of his free-throws and then drilled a wide-open three up top off the inbounds pass to cut that deficit in half.
On the following possession, Antetokounmpo blocked Rui Hachimura‘s pull-up attempt at the top of the key and proceeded to run out to the other side of the court to get the outlet pass for the two-handed slam.
Washington seemingly caught on that Antetokounmpo was about to go off even further, so they put three defenders at the free-throw line to deny the “Greek Freak” any opportunity to drive to the rim, so Antetokounmpo kicked it to a wide-open Bobby Portis behind the arc for one of his four 3-pointers on the night.
Antetokounmpo’s efforts allowed the Bucks to head into halftime with just a one-point deficit, and it’s no coincidence that it happened after he was fouled hard.
To Washington’s credit though, they were able to hang in there with one of the better teams in the league in Milwaukee for the entire second half despite missing the services of Bradley Beal.
