Bucks 97, 76ers 77
Khris Middleton scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and notched a career-best five steals as visiting Milwaukee cruised past Philadelphia.
Brandon Knight also scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers and Jerryd Bayless scored 12 on 6-of-6 shooting as the Bucks shot 60 percent from the field over the first three quarters before cooling down. O.J. Mayo tallied 15 points and Zaza Pachulia contributed 11 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists as Milwaukee overcame 26 turnovers.
K.J. McDaniels scored 14 points, Nerlens Noel added 13 and Tony Wroten had 12 for the 76ers, who dropped to 1-15 at home. Philadelphia committed 24 turnovers, shot 30.1 percent from the field, was 2-of-25 from 3-point range and saw the trio of Michael Carter-Williams (1-of-13), Robert Covington (1-of-11) and Henry Sims (1-of-8) shoot a combined 3-of-32.
The Bucks rolled off the first nine points of the third quarter to open a 23-point lead and expanded it to 25 later in the period before settling for a 77-60 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Milwaukee continued the assault in the fourth quarter as an 18-2 surge capped by a 3-pointer from Mayo made it 95-64 with 3:38 to play.
Milwaukee closed the first quarter with a 17-2 burst to hold a 16-point lead before Philadelphia used an 11-2 run early in the second quarter to move within seven. The Bucks pushed the lead to 16 on two free throws by Knight with 4:15 to play in the half before taking a 53-39 lead into the break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Wroten was 4-of-19 from the field and missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. … Middleton has 14 steals over the last five games. … Philadelphia F Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (turf toe) missed his second consecutive game.