Kings at Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo had his run of five straight games with at least 30 points, 15 rebounds and five assists come to an end during a rough shooting night on Saturday, but the Milwaukee Bucks still had little trouble earning a win. The NBA-best Bucks will try to push the current winning streak to five in a row when they host the Sacramento Kings on Monday.
Antetokounmpo was held to 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting Saturday but grabbed 18 rebounds and handed out nine assists in the 111-95 triumph, keeping Milwaukee on pace to become the third team in history to win 70 games in the regular season. The Bucks, who visit Indiana on Wednesday in their final game before the All-Star break, own an NBA-best point differential of 12.5 - over five points better than the No. 2 Boston Celtics - and are 24-3 at home. The Kings come in hot with wins in three straight and six of their last eight and will finish up before the break with a tough two-game trip at Milwaukee and Dallas. Sacramento had little trouble with the zone defense of the Miami Heat in a 105-97 triumph on Friday and kept the hot shooting coming the next night with a 122-102 blowout of the San Antonio Spurs.
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: NBA TV, NBCS California, FS Wisconsin
ABOUT THE KINGS (21-31): Sacramento's recent run of strong play coincides with coach Luke Walton swapping Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield, with the latter coming off the bench. Hield is averaging 23.1 points in eight games since moving to the bench and exploded for 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting while going 9-of-10 from beyond the arc in Saturday's triumph. "When he's shooting the ball like that, as a coach you just kind of sit back and enjoy it," Walton told reporters of Hield, who became the fastest in history to reach 800 career 3-pointers at 296 games, besting Stephen Curry's mark of 305.
ABOUT THE BUCKS (45-7): With Antetokounmpo struggling from the field on Saturday center Brook Lopez stepped up, knocking down all five of his 3-point attempts and going 9-of-13 from the floor en route to a team-high 23 points. "For him, I think 5-for-5 from the 3-point line, it just changes the game," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters of Lopez. "Everybody knows he's so capable of doing something like that. So, just happy for him. He works so hard and wants to be there for his teammates on both ends. It's fun when he gets hot and starts making threes." All-Star swingman Khris Middleton added 21 points and a season-high 13 rebounds on Saturday - his sixth straight game scoring 20 or more.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Kings SF Harrison Barnes scored 25 points on Saturday after averaging 7.8 over his previous five contests.
2. The Bucks will reportedly sign PF Marvin Williams once he clears waivers after he reached a buyout agreement with the Charlotte Hornets.
3. Milwaukee took the last seven in the series, including a 127-106 victory at Sacramento on Jan. 10.