LOS ANGELES – Giannis Antetokounmpo said “everybody has to be better” after his 48-point effort failed to lift the Milwaukee Bucks in their 112-108 loss to the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA) on Jan 6.
Alperen Sengun, with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Jabari Smith Jr (14 points and 12 boards), teamed up for a critical late three-pointer as the hosts won for the third time in a seven-game home stand.
After Milwaukee shaved a 21-point third-quarter deficit to just six points at 105-99 on a pair of Antetokounmpo free throws with 1min 50sec left, Sengun fed Smith for a corner three-pointer 18 seconds later to pave the way to victory.
Antetokounmpo was exceptional, finishing with 48 points and 17 rebounds. This was his 18th career game of 45 or more points, tying him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record in the Bucks’ history.
The Greek told ESPN: “We have to be better. We have to play better, we have to defend better, we have to trust one another better, we have to be coached better.
“Every single thing, everybody has to be better. It starts from the equipment manager – he has to wash our clothes better. The bench has to be better, the leaders of the team have to be more vocal, we have to make more shots, we have to defend better, we have to have a better strategy, we have to be better.
“We have four months to get better, so we’ll see.”
On Antetokounmpo, Rockets coach Ime Udoka added: “He’s a hard guard. We can live with one guy going off as long as we keep everybody else under wraps. You’ve got to pick your poison at times. We’ve shown this year that when we go after everybody else and let one guy loose, we have good results.”
Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard (18 points) and Khris Middleton (10 points) combined to shoot just eight for 25 – including one for 13 on threes – as they lost for the third time in four games.
Five other Rockets scored in double figures, with Jalen Green and Jeff Green earning 16 points apiece while Fred VanVleet had 14, Cam Whitmore 12 and Aaron Holiday 11.
“We just relied on our defence,” Jeff Green said. “We’ve been in these situations plenty of times, we’ve relied on one another. We got the stops when we needed them and made big shots.”
In Indianapolis, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 69 points and the Boston Celtics again kept the potent Indiana Pacers offence in check in a 118-101 victory.
Tatum scored 38 points and Brown added 31 for the league-leading Celtics (28-7), who held the Pacers to a season-low in points as they snapped Indiana’s six-game winning streak.
“We know they can put up 160,” Tatum said. “That’s one of the best offences in the league. They play with pace, they share the ball, they can shoot, so you’ve got to be locked in when you come to Indiana.”
Elsewhere, Julius Randle scored 39 points and Jalen Brunson added 33 to lead the New York Knicks to a fourth straight victory, a 121-105 rout of the Wizards in Washington.
The Knicks led by as many as 26 in the wire-to-wire victory.
In Philadelphia, the Utah Jazz won 120-109 to hand the short-handed 76ers a second straight defeat. The Sixers were without reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, who sat out with a swollen left knee. AFP, REUTERS
