Bucks rally to defeat Pistons in OT
MILWAUKEE -- Thon Maker scored a career-high 23 points as the Milwaukee Bucks rallied late to force overtime and pull away from the Detroit Pistons for a 108-105 victory Friday night at the Bradley Center.
Maker hit nine of 12 shots, including four 3-pointers, for the Bucks (40-36), who also got 28 from Giannis Antetokounmpo and 25 from Khris Middleton.
Antetokounmpo added 14 rebounds and nine assists.
Tobias Harris led Detroit (35-42) with 23 points while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 17.
A 22-4 run to start the game put the Bucks in control. Maker had nine points during that stretch and seldom-used reserve guard Rashad Vaughn contributed, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers as Milwaukee built a 35-22 lead after one quarter.
The Pistons woke up in the second, cutting the deficit to seven on a running floater from Beno Udrih. They shot 54.5 percent in the quarter while Milwaukee made only seven of 21 shots to make it a 56-48 game at the half.
Neither the Bucks (5-17) or Pistons (9-26) shot particularly well out of the break, but Detroit erased the deficit and took a lead into the fourth by scoring eight points off seven Milwaukee turnovers.
Caldwell-Pope's driving dunk made it a 66-65 game with 2:35 left in the third and a technical on Monroe allowed the Pistons to tie the game. A three-point play from Harris capped off a 14-2 run and gave Detroit its first lead of the night.
The Pistons would go up by as many as 10 in the fourth. Antetokounmpo scored 11 in the quarter, but Middleton's attempt at a game-winner with 12.4 seconds left fell short, forcing an extra session.
Maker hit his fourth trey of the night late in overtime but after Caldwell-Pope tied it up again, Maker came up huge, tipping an errant Middleton 3-point attempt back to Middleton, who drained the second chance to put Milwaukee up for good.
NOTES: Milwaukee was without PG Malcolm Brogdon, who was sidelined with back pain. Matthew Dellavedova started in place of Brogdon while F Michael Beasley returned to action Friday after missing 16 games with a hyperextended left knee. Bucks coach Jason Kidd said he'd ease Beasley back into the rotation, limiting him to approximately 15 minutes of action. ... After being arrested under suspicion of a DUI earlier this week, Pistons G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope refused to speak to reporters Friday. Head coach Stan Van Gundy declined to comment on the matter as well.