Los Angeles (AFP) – Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee’s rout of reigning NBA champion Denver on Monday while Philadelphia snapped Cleveland’s nine-game win streak and rookie Victor Wembanyama delivered a historic triple-double.
Greek star Antetokounmpo scored 36 points and grabbed 18 rebounds while Damian Lillard added 18 points to lead the Bucks in a 112-95 home triumph over the injury-hit Nuggets.
The blowout came on a night when Philadelphia took a dramatic 123-121 victory at Cleveland to stun the NBA’s hottest team while French 7-foot-4 (2.24m) superstar Wembanyama had 27 points, 14 rebounds and an NBA season-best 10 blocked shots in a 122-99 San Antonio victory at Toronto.
He is only the fourth rookie in league history to notch a triple-double that included blocked shots.
Meanwhile, Serbian big man Nikola Jokic, like Antetokounmpo a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, had 29 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for the Nuggets, who trailed 60-44 at halftime and lost two starters.
Denver’s Jamal Murray played only 18 minutes due to a leg injury and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played only nine with a tight right hamstring.
The Bucks improved to 35-19, 3-5 under new coach Doc Rivers while Denver fell to 36-18, losing ground in a four-team fight for the Western Conference.
Minnesota (36-16) will visit the Los Angeles Clippers (35-16) later with the winner taking the conference lead.
At Cleveland, Kelly Oubre and Buddy Hield each scored 24 points and Oubre blocked Donovan Mitchell’s tying layup attempt with one second to play in the 76ers’ victory.
The Cavs (35-17) had won 17 of their prior 18 games but were denied their first 10-game win streak since 2017.
An Oubre 3-pointer gave the Sixers a 120-110 lead with 1:25 to go but a Darius Garland 3-pointer, a Mitchell 3-point play and Mitchell’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining lifted the Cavs within 120-119.
Ricky Council sank two free throws, Mitchell answered with two and Tyrese Maxey made 1-of-2 free throws with 6.2 seconds remaining, setting the stage for Oubre’s block to foil Mitchell, who scored a game-high 36 points for Cleveland.
– Wemby’s epic night –
Wembanyama produced an amazing — and rare — feat: the NBA’s first triple-double to include blocked shots since Clint Capela did it in 2021.
The 20-year-old Frenchman, who had his first NBA triple-double last month against Detroit, hit 10-of-14 shots from the floor, with 2-of-4 3-point attempts and 5-of-6 free throws while adding five assists and two steals over 29 minutes in his most dominant all-around NBA performance to date.
The Spurs snapped a seven-game losing streak behind 2023 top NBA Draft pick “Wemby,” who became the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1996 with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 blocks and five assists in a game.
Elsewhere, a foul whistled on New York’s Jalen Brunson with 0.3 seconds remaining led to a nightmare 105-103 loss for the New York Knicks at Houston.
With the game tied, Brunson was called for a foul on Aaron Holiday’s 3-point shot.
Holiday, who scored 18 off the Rockets’ bench, hit two game-winning free throws and missed the third to kill the final split second, condemning the Knicks to their third consecutive defeat.
Charlotte’s Miles Bridges had 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to spark the Hornets over visiting Indiana 111-102.
DeMar DeRozan and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 29 points to lead Chicago’s 136-126 victory at Atlanta while Herbert Jones had 17 points to lead a balanced New Orleans attack in a 96-87 triumph at Memphis.
