Heat at Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are one win into their quest for a second straight 60-win campaign and will try to make it two when they host the Miami Heat in the home opener on Saturday. The Bucks spoiled the debut of James Harden and Russell Westbrook as Rockets teammates with a 117-111 victory at Houston on Thursday as Giannis Antetokounmpo asserted himself as the best player on the floor.
Antetokounmpo, who beat out Harden to win the MVP Award last season, recorded a triple-double with 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting, 13 rebounds and 11 assists to lead Milwaukee to a come-from-behind 117-111 victory on Thursday. "It feels amazing, I'm not going to lie," Antetokounmpo told reporters. "Being down 17 and able to come back and nobody was complaining, everybody was focused on the game. At no moment of the game we felt like we gave up. We played even harder, defended harder, executed harder and it's game No. 1. This can only make you better." The Heat are coming off a win in their opener as well after knocking off Memphis 120-101 on Wednesday despite star swingman Jimmy Butler putting off his team debut due to the birth of his daughter. "I think today was good for us, kind of in a way, not to have him," Miami small forward Justise Winslow told reporters of playing without Butler. "Guys can get comfortable, guys can get a couple extra shots up, but I'm excited. We're going to need Jimmy, not to take anything away from him. We're going to need him for sure."
TV: 5 p.m. ET, NBA TV, FS Sun (Miami), FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
ABOUT THE HEAT (1-0): Winslow is serving as the point guard on the first unit with veteran point guard Goran Dragic coming off the bench, and Winslow took over the offense with 27 points, seven assists and seven rebounds in the opener. "I knew we needed some of that scoring punch to be lifted up, but to me each game is kind of the same - just read and react, try to really play that point guard position and you just have to read the game," Winslow told reporters. "You have to know who has the hot hand and I kind of got it early, getting to the basket, getting fouled, so that kind of comes with playing that position, knowing who's out there, knowing who's hot." The hot hand on Wednesday was rookie guard Kendrick Nunn, who scored 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting in 27 minutes.
ABOUT THE BUCKS (1-0): Antetokounmpo fouled out in the fourth quarter on Thursday but the rest of the roster stepped up in support and seven players scored in double figures in the win. "Just a complete team," small forward Khris Middleton told reporters of Antetokounmpo. "That's our guy, that's our main guy, but to have the whole team step up - Brook (Lopez) stepped up, George (Hill) played big minutes for us coming through for us. We're a deep team." Middleton, who signed a five-year, $178 million extension to stay with the team over the summer, managed 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Butler is expected to miss two more games and Nunn is a candidate to start in his place again.
2. Bucks PG Eric Bledsoe (ribs) was limited to 16 minutes on Thursday.
3. Milwaukee dropped the first of four meetings last season but took the next three by an average of 27.3 points.