Monroe, Bucks blast Pistons
MILWAUKEE -- Greg Monroe scored 25 points and Michael Beasley added 23 as the Milwaukee Bucks won consecutive games for the first time in a month, beating the Detroit Pistons 102-89 Monday night at the Bradley Center.
Monroe hit 12 of 15 shots and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Beasley sank 10 of 13 attempts. The duo's output helped make up for a rare off-night from All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was held to eight points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Milwaukee (24-30) made only 6 of 21 3-point tries but shot 50.6 percent overall.
Marcus Morris led Detroit (26-30) with 26 points. Andre Drummond added 21 points and 12 boards, and Jon Leuer had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons, who shot 43.6 percent and gave up 19 points on 17 turnovers.
Beasley hit his first eight shots and scored 16 points in the first half. Monroe started out hot, too, going 8 of 9 for 17 points and grabbing six rebounds as the Bucks took a 51-34 halftime lead.
But while those two were dominating, the rest of the Bucks struggled to find the hoop, especially from outside, where the Bucks made just two of 11 3-point attempts before the break.
Detroit didn't fare much better, hitting only 1 of 8 long-distance attempts in the first half and 7 of 21 overall.
After Milwaukee stretched its lead to 22 early in the third, the Pistons answered with a 9-0 run to get within 13 with 9:18 left in the quarter.
Antetokounmpo had gone scoreless to that point but finally snapped out of his drought with six in the quarter.
A 7-0 Detroit run made it an 11-point deficit with 9:29 to play. It wasn't enough to challenge the Bucks, who hit 9 of 14 shots in the final quarter.
The Bucks had allowed opponents to score 100 points or more in 18 consecutive games.
NOTES: Bucks G Khris Middleton scored 11 points in 18 minutes. After missing the first 50 games of the season while recovering from a torn hamstring, Middleton played two games then did not travel Saturday to Indiana, where the Bucks played the second half of a back-to-back. ... Monday marked the return of Henry Ellenson to the Bradley Center. The Pistons' big man is a native of Rice Lake, Wis., who played for Marquette, which shares the arena with the Bucks. ... The Pistons snapped a three-game road losing streak Sunday night at Toronto but have lost 10 of their past 14 road contests. ... The Pistons fell for the fifth time in their past six visits to Milwaukee.