Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Khris Middleton added 27 points and 10 assists, and the Milwaukee Bucks pulled away for a 144-122 victory Wednesday night over a Brooklyn Nets team that treated it like a preseason game.
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After an NBA single-season record-tying victory in Detroit that extended the Pistons’ losing run to 27, the Nets rested three starters and hardly used the other two that night.
For three quarters, their lineup, which included several rookies and players on two-way contracts, put up a strong fight before the Bucks put them away.
The Bucks moved to 10-2 in December, led by five 3-pointers apiece from Malik Beasley and Cameron Payne. They won two of their three games during their three-game holiday stay in New York, including a Christmas loss to the Knicks, after recovering from one of those losses.
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Payne scored 18 points off the bench and Beasley finished with 17. Bobby Portis had 14 and the Bucks finished 23 of 51 (45%) behind the arc.
Rookie Jalen Wilson had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets. Trendon Watford scored 17 points and Dennis Smith Jr. and rookie Noah Clowney each had 14.
The Nets rested Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, along with key reserve Dorian Finney-Smith, who played the whole fourth quarter Tuesday.
With the Nets returning from a five-game trip to the West a week before Christmas, finishing their second set of back-to-back games since and facing another four-game trip later this week, coach Jacque Vaughn cited the heavy workload for the decision to rest the players, saying he would be putting them “in harm’s way” if they didn’t get a break.
Mikal Bridges started to preserve his consecutive games streak that is now at 423 but didn’t play after the first quarter. Nor did Cam Thomas, Brooklyn’s leading scorer who had 45 points against Milwaukee last month.
Still, Milwaukee led by only one before a 9-2 spurt in the final 1:25 of the third quarter to make it 100-92. Another flurry early in the fourth extended it to 13 and the Bucks would eventually extend it beyond 20.
The Bucks outscored the Nets 44-30 in the fourth.
