New York’s Immanuel Quickley drives to the basket past Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez in the first half Wednesday night in New York. Adam Hunger/Associated Press
NEW YORK — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 37 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, then Grayson Allen made the tie-breaking 3-pointer with 30 seconds left after his superstar teammate fouled out to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 109-103 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Allen made only one 3-pointer – a game after going 7 for 7 behind the arc in the first half of a victory over Dallas. But it was the only one the Bucks needed after Antetokounmpo had carried them for so long.
He fouled out with a minute left and the Bucks leading by two. Mitchell Robinson made one free throw and the Knicks got the rebound when he missed the second, leading to a free throw by Jalen Brunson that tied it with 47 seconds remaining.
After Allen’s 3-pointer, RJ Barrett missed a 3 for the Knicks and the Bucks closed it out from the free-throw line.
Jrue Holiday had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Bucks, who had long stretches where Antetokounmpo was their only offense.
Barrett scored 26 points, Julius Randle added 18 and Brunson had 17 for the Knicks, who piled up 140 points in Detroit on Tuesday night but found things a whole lot different against the Bucks’ top-notch defense. New York shot 42% from the field and 20% from 3-point range, plus a dismal 65% from the free-throw line.
NETS 113, WIZARDS 107: Kevin Durant scored 39 points and Brooklyn beat visiting Washington for its third straight victory.
Durant was 13 for 20 from the field and hit all 11 of his free throws in 37 minutes after scoring a season-high 45 points Monday night in a victory over Orlando.
Kyrie Irving added 27 points and Joe Harris had 14. Brooklyn has won five in a row at home.
Kristaps Porzingis had 27 points and 19 rebounds for Washington.
CAVALIERS 113, 76ERS 85: Caris LeVert scored 22 points off the bench, Darius Garland had 21 points and nine assist and Cleveland routed visiting Philadelphia.
Donovan Mitchell added 18 points and six assists for Cleveland, which led by a season-high 33 points in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers are 9-1 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the third-best home mark in the NBA.
All-Star center Joel Embiid led Philadelphia across the board with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Shake Milton scored 14 points. The 76ers had their three-game win streak snapped in the opener of a three-game trip.
HAWKS 125, MAGIC 108: Trae Young had 30 points and 14 assists and visiting Atlanta Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak.
Dejounte Murray added 27 points and Clint Capela finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds after a dominating first quarter in which Atlanta built an 11-point lead.
Franz Wagner had 22 points and six rebounds for Orlando, which lost its sixth straight. Paolo Banchero added 20 points and five assists.
NOTES
NETS: Ben Simmons will miss at least the next three games with what the Brooklyn Nets said is a strained left upper calf.
Coach Jacque Vaughn said before the Nets played Washington on Wednesday night that Simmons was feeling pain in the back of his knee when he asked to come out of their victory over Orlando on Monday night.
The injured turned out to be the calf, not the knee.
Simmons also will miss home games against Toronto on Friday and Boston on Sunday before he is reassessed.
TOURNAMENT: The NBA is planning for the inaugural version of its in-season tournament – should it become reality – to begin early next season, according to a memo sent to teams Wednesday.
If the tournament is approved, 80 regular-season games for each team would be announced in August, with two more games set to be scheduled depending on which eight teams make the tournament’s knockout stage. Those games would be added in-season to the schedule.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has pushed for the past several years for the in-season event to be added. Talks have gone on about it since at least 2016, and in 2019 the league even created a proposal in which teams would play eight divisional games in the group stage, followed by quarterfinals for the top eight clubs and then semifinals and finals at a neutral site in December.
That evidently remains the footprint. Teams, in Wednesday’s memo, were told to plan for tournament quarterfinal games in early December 2023 – again, the caveat being that the event has yet to be approved.
“It’s something that I remain excited about,” Silver said in September. “I think it continues to be an opportunity within the current footprint of our season to create some more meaningful games, games of consequence, during an otherwise long regular season. … I think fans might really ultimately enjoy another competition during the season, some sort of cup competition. Certainly not rising to the level of the Larry O’Brien Trophy, yet something else significant to play for.”
Silver has often compared the notion of an in-season tournament to what is commonly seen in European soccer.
“It’s all about fan interest,” Denver Coach Michael Malone said Wednesday night. “I know they do this a lot in soccer around the world, these in-season tournaments. I don’t know how it’s going to work, the details of it. But if it’s good for the game and the league supports it, obviously all 30 teams and all 30 head coaches will be on board as well. ”
The scheduling process for next season starts with teams telling the league what dates their home arena is available. The NBA wants that list by Dec. 9; the process continues for the next several months.
Wednesday’s memo included clarity on several key dates for the 2023-24 season. Training camps will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 3 for most teams, except those participating in overseas preseason games; they can open camp on Saturday, Sept. 30.
The season begins Oct. 24 and ends April 14, 2024. The play-in tournament will be April 16-19, 2024, and that means that season’s playoffs would begin on April 20.
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