By Jonas Terrado

Dave Ildefonso can now shift his focus back to basketball after weeks processing his transfer from National University to Ateneo.

Ildefonso, who will play for Mighty Sports Philippines in this week’s Dubai Invitational Basketball Tournament, made headlines when he decided to leave Sampaloc after two seasons to head back to Loyola where he suited up as a high school standout.

“Nakahinga na rin,” the son of PBA great Danny Ildefonso said. “Just really taking it one game at a time. It’s gonna be a long process but I’m up for the challenge and I’m back to where I am naman e.”

The 19-year-old will sit out a year before being eligible to don the Blue Eagles jersey in the 2021 UAAP season.

For now, Ildefonso’s focus is to try to help Mighty improve on last year’s third place finish in the Dubai tournament slated Jan. 23 to Feb. 1.

“Dati iniisip ko na baka hindi na ako pumunta ng Dubai dahil nag-iisip pa ako pero ngayon nakapagdecide na ako, maseset-aside ko na yan at makakafocus na ako sa Dubai,” he said.

What excites Ildefonso is to be able to play alongside some of the best players in the amateurs, talented reinforcements and veterans.

He’ll also be teammates with some of his father’s former teammates.

“Marami akong matututunan sa mga veterans, lalong-lalo na si Tito Joseph Yeo at saka si Balkman kasi palagi ko silang napapanood pag kasama nila si Tatay, kasi nagkasabay pa sila at nanonood lang ako sa practices at sa games,” Ildefonso said.

“Parang mapapaisip ako na ang bilis ng panahon, parang di mo aakalain na magkakasabay-sabay pa. Minsan lang ang opportunity na to e, siyempre grateful ako kay coach Charles (Tiu) at sa Mighty na na-consider nila ako para dito,” he added.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — Chris Paul had become annoyed with Oklahoma City’s recent slow starts, so he did something about it.

He scored 21 of his 30 points in the first half, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers 119-106 on Saturday night.

Forward Danilo Gallinari, Oklahoma City’s No. 2 scorer, rested. That prompted Paul to look for his shot more.

“Just trying to be aggressive,” he said. “You know, without Danilo, we’ve got to find scoring. So I tried to come out and pick my spots early and made a few shots early.”

Portland coach Terry Stotts has seen it all before during Paul’s 15-year NBA career.

“Paul was a really good player tonight,” Stotts said. “Well, he’s been a really good player for his career, but he had a really good game tonight. He managed the game, scored.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Dennis Schroder and Nerlens Noel each added 15 points for Oklahoma City.

The Trail Blazers had just eight players available. Portland’s Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver were not with the team, and coach Terry Stotts declined comment amid reports that the players were to be traded to Sacramento in exchange for Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan.

Portland guard C.J. McCollum was out with a sprained left ankle. He ranks second on the team, averaging 21.5 points.

Damian Lillard, who played despite dealing with an upper respiratory illness, led the Trail Blazers with 34 points. Gary Trent Jr. scored a career-high 30.

The Thunder led 64-57 at halftime, a switch from recent games with big deficits against the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat.

“We just didn’t have to play from behind,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We knew what we needed to do going into this game. We are coming off a back-to-back. We knew it would be a little bit tough, but if we wanted to win, we had to do it, and we did it tonight.”

Lillard scored 24 points in the first half to keep the Trail Blazers in it, but Oklahoma City pushed its lead to 87-77 after three quarters and cruised in the fourth. Stotts wasn’t sure if his team wore out.

“That’s possible,” he said. “You know, we were hanging close. They made some runs. I don’t know if we ran out of gas or not. The minutes were kind of under control, but like I said, I thought it was mostly Chris Paul’s impact on the game more than anything else.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — With wins so hard to come by for the injury-plagued Warriors, everyone means a little more now to coach Steve Kerr.

The Golden State of old just expected to pile up victories — and now things are completely the opposite with Kevin Durant having departed for Brooklyn and Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson sidelined.

D’Angelo Russell scored 26 points and dished out a season-high 12 assists, and the Warriors snapped their longest losing streak in nearly 18 years at 10 games by beating the Orlando Magic 109-95 on Saturday night.

“We’ve had a couple of long losing streaks that are really, really difficult to live with,” Kerr said.

“You just feel bad for the players and the organization, people who are working so hard every day. You want to see everybody happy and you want to see the fans happy. I thought today meant a lot to the group, to the players, but I could tell it meant a lot to the fans, too. They were really happy, so you just need to win and keep things moving forward, even if you’re 10-34 like we are. You’ve got to win one occasionally to keep the spirit up. I think that’s what made today such a good win.”

Jordan Poole scored 21 points off the bench and Eric Paschall had 20 points and nine rebounds as Golden State also ended a five-game skid at home.

Markelle Fultz scored 23 points to lead the Magic, who came in with two close victories in three games on their West Coast swing.

Forward Aaron Gordon summed up coach Steve Clifford’s message: The Magic didn’t compete.

“We played soft, not enough energy and we’ve just got to play better, especially the starting unit,” Gordon said.

The Warriors’ 10-game skid was their longest winless stretch since also dropping 10 in a row from March 9-24, 2002.

Russell and rookie Poole each hit four 3-pointers, and Poole scored in double figures for his career-best fourth straight game and 13th in all this season. He recently returned from a stint in the G League and has been far more consistent with his shot.

The Warriors were down to nine players again with Draymond Green sitting out because of a sprained left index finger. It’s the sixth game he has missed this season with the injury. Golden State lost guard Jacob Evans III to a concussion on Tuesday night against Dallas.

The Warriors have won eight of 10 at home against the Magic and seven straight.

“All we can do with the amount of guys we have and the amount of experience we have, we just have to keep on going into these games and learning from them and not reverting back to stuff that causes us to lose games,” center Willie Cauley-Stein said. “It’s building on the intensity, building on taking care of the ball, building on while they’re up in transition not giving up easy buckets. The last couple games we’ve doing that and we finally got that W.”

Evan Fournier scored 12 points in 32 minutes for Orlando. He went through a warm-up to determine whether he had regained enough strength to play after he was sick and in bed all day Friday.

Orlando hit five of its first eight shots with two 3s by Fournier and jumped out to a 13-0 lead as Golden State missed its initial seven shots — four from deep — and committed three turnovers before Poole’s 3 at the 7:10 mark of the first quarter. The Warriors warmed up and got back within 15-13, then led 28-25 at the end of the initial quarter.

“He just immediately changed the momentum,” Kerr said of Poole.

Welcome back

Thompson had his jersey retired at halftime of Washington State’s home game against Oregon State on Saturday in Pullman, Washington. Curry made the trip to rural Washington on the private plane of Warriors owner Joe Lacob, who also had Zaza Pachulia along. Of the trip, Lacob said, “It was great!”

“We had such a great day and so happy for Klay. Fans were incredible!” Pachulia said in a text message.

Curry returned to the Warriors bench early in the second quarter and worked as a sideline reporter in the third quarter. His nametag read: “Stephen Curry Overpaid Sideline Reporter.”

“Pullman was unbelievable,” Curry said. “Obviously it was about Klay and getting a taste of where he’s from, what made him who he is. You can tell why he talks about it with such high regard because of how they celebrated him today. At the end of the day he has his jersey in the rafters so he’s an immortal. I like the Cali weather. Pullman was nice but I’m going to stick with the Cali weather.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

HOUSTON — The Los Angeles Lakers were determined to start the second half of their season on a high note following a loss that snapped a nine-game winning streak.

They were able to do that by riding a big third quarter to a 124-115 win over the Houston Rockets.

LeBron James had 31 points and 12 assists for the Lakers, who lost to Orlando on Wednesday night.

“We hated the loss that we had the other night against Orlando,” James said. “So we had a couple of days to kind of just reshape, refocus and start the second half of the season the right way, and we did that tonight.”

The loss was the third straight for the Rockets, which tied a season high, and they have dropped four of five.

“We’re just not playing well right now,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We haven’t played well for a couple of weeks. And the only way you can get out of it is play hard, keep your head down and just go forward.”

Kyle Kuzma scored 23 points, and Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope each had 20 for the Lakers.

Russell Westbrook scored 35 points for his fourth straight 30-point game and James Harden had 34 for the Rockets, who also lost three in a row in late November.

Harden is confident the Rockets can break out of their funk.

“Everybody throughout the course of your career has been through some tough times and the only way you can get through them is continue to work and continue to go hard and mentally lock in and just try to be as solid as possible,” Harden said.

James was impressed with the work Kuzma did against Westbrook in the second half when he was held to 13 points.

“Kuz just kept his body in front of him and made him take tough shots,” James said. “He made a couple but Kuz made it tough on him, so that helped changed the game for us.”

Los Angeles didn’t lead in the first half but used a 32-point third quarter to take a nine-point lead into the fourth.
Houston used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 10 with about seven minutes left, but the Lakers scored the next six points to extend it to 110-94 midway through the quarter.

That sent many Rockets fans streaming for the exits and caused a large contingent of Lakers fans to start chanting, “Let’s go Lakers.”

The Rockets did not get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

The Lakers opened the second half with a 10-3 run to take their first lead of the game, 69-68, with about eight minutes left in the third quarter.

James capped that run by making a basket and then added another one seconds later after JaVale McGee blocked a dunk attempt by Clint Capela. McGee beat his chest and screamed after in Capela’s direction after the play and received a technical foul for taunting.

“We picked up our intensity,” Dwight Howard said. “Then JaVale got some big blocks, which got us out in the open court. So we’ve just got to make sure we continue to do that.”

There were about seven minutes left in the third when Westbrook and Anthony Davis, who missed the game with an injury, both received technical fouls for jawing at each other.

The Lakers led by three later in the third when Kuzma scored the first four points of a 9-2 run that stretched the lead to 85-75.

Houston had a chance to cut the deficit at the end of the third quarter, but Westbrook missed two free throws to leave the Lakers up 91-82 entering the fourth.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS— Fred VanVleet knew he was on a minutes restriction as he made his return from a hamstring injury after missing five games. The Raptors guard tried not to think much about it while on the court.

Instead, he made the most of the minutes he did play.

VanVleet led Toronto with 29 points as the Raptors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-112 on Saturday night.

Kyle Lowry added 28 points and seven assists while Norman Powell scored 20 points off the bench for the Raptors, who have won three straight games.

Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins recorded his first career triple-double. He had 18 points, a career-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Rookie Jarrett Culver had 26 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost five straight.

VanVleet’s injury sidelined him for five games before Saturday. He was 11 of 16 from the field and 7 of 8 from 3-point range.

“It looked like it was just riding a bike,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of VanVleet. “He was really good.”

Nurse said pregame that VanVleet would play between 25 to 28 minutes. He played 28:30 — the most of any Raptor on Saturday.

“I think playing at ease like that allowed me to not press and just let the game come to me,” said VanVleet, who scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Toronto took a five-point lead into the fourth quarter thanks in large part to Lowry’s efforts in the third. Lowry scored 17 points in the quarter to erase a four-point halftime deficit.

The Raptors pushed the lead to as many as 22 in the fourth. Serge Ibaka and Powell each had six points off the bench during a 21-6 stretch to open the period.

“They kind of extended the lead and it was kind of hard to come back after that,” Wiggins said.

Saturday was the second night of back-to-back games for both teams. Toronto beat Washington 140-111 on Friday, while Minnesota lost 116-114 at Indiana.

Minnesota got big first quarters from Wiggins and Culver. Wiggins had 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting and added five assists in the quarter. Culver led Minnesota with 14 points in the first, including 4 of 6 from deep.

“He shot ten 3s and made four,” Wolves coach Ryan Saunders said of Culver. “I was happy with him tonight.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls overcame a poor performance in the first three quarters with a strong finish.

Zach LaVine scored 21 of his 42 points in the fourth and the Bulls rallied from 15 points down in the final period for a 118-116 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Chicago, which trailed by as many as 19 points, held the Cavaliers to 14 points in the fourth and forced 10 turnovers.
Lauri Markkanen scored 17 points for the Bulls, who have won two of three.

LaVine has scored at least 20 points in 10 straight games.

“We just put together a last little run, and we did it at the right time,” LaVine said. “Sometimes, all it takes is seven or eight good minutes of a good run and you can win the game.

“It was ugly up to that point, but we turned it around, and that’s all that matters.”

Kevin Love had 29 points and Collin Sexton added 26 as Cleveland dropped its fourth straight.

“It stings to lose this game,” Cavaliers coach John Beilein said. “Forget about the lead that we had … we’re just better than 26 turnovers. We sometimes get a little too anxious or try to do too much and we have to work harder as a coaching staff at fundamentals.”

With the Bulls leading 114-111, the Cavaliers appeared to have a chance to tie the game as Love drove the baseline for a basket and Markkanen was called for a touch foul by referee Ashley Moyer-Gleich with 20.1 seconds left.

However, Bulls coach Jim Boylen challenged the call and the foul was rescinded after review — giving the Chicago the ball with a 114-113 lead.

“I knew I didn’t push him,” Markkanen said. “I was confident they were going to overturn the call. I wasn’t really surprised.”

LaVine then stretched it to 117-113 with a three-point play with 16.5 seconds left. Cedi Osman hit a 3-pointer with 11.4 seconds remaining to make it a one-point game, The Cavaliers got the ball back following a turnover, but Love missed inside and Chicago hung on.

“I did have a good look,” Love said. “I probably should’ve not tried to bank it.”

After leading 33-31 at the end of the first quarter, Cleveland opened up a big lead by outscoring Chicago 40-25 in the second. The Cavaliers were 14 for 17 (82.4%) from the field, including 7 of 9 on 3-pointers. Those numbers included a miss on a heave from just inside the half-court line before the halftime buzzer.

Love set the pace for Cleveland’s 73-56 lead at the intermission with 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting, including 4 of 6 on 3-pointers. The 12th-year forward entered averaging 17.1 points.

The Cavaliers took a 102-87 lead into the fourth and appeared in control. But Chicago suddenly came to life, opening the quarter with a 16-2 run and pulling within 104-103 with just over six minutes left.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

NEW YORK — The 76ers haven’t won as much on the road as they’d like. They relied on defense to get it done at Madison Square Garden.

Tobias Harris hit a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, Ben Simmons had 21 points and Philadelphia beat the New York Knicks 90-87 on Saturday night for its third straight victory.

“I thought our defense really fueled us throughout the game,” Harris said. “We did a good job defensively of getting our stops, getting out in transition.”

Josh Richardson added 18 points and reserve Furkan Korkmaz scored 17 for the 76ers, who snapped a six-game road losing streak. Their last win away from home was Dec. 23 at Detroit. Philadelphia is 28-16 overall but just 8-14 on the road.

It was the second straight game — and the third overall this season — that the 76ers held an opponent under 90 points.

“It was a real sense of urgency of getting a win on the road and getting stops down the stretch,” Al Horford said. “Defensively, this was kind of like an old-school type of game.”

Marcus Morris Sr. scored 20 points and missed a half-court heave at the buzzer for the Knicks, who have lost three straight. Julius Randle had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Philadelphia scored five straight points to extend its lead 84-77 on a three-point play from Harris with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter.

New York then rallied late with a 10-2 run and took a 87-86 lead when Morris sank a jumper over Simmons with 31 seconds left in regulation.

The 76ers called a timeout to advance the ball past half court and Simmons found a wide-open Harris — who made 5 of 13 shots and finished with 15 points — for his fourth 3-pointer of the night to put Philadelphia ahead 89-87 with 28 seconds to play.

New York had a chance to tie, but Simmons and Harris swarmed Randle on an inbound play and forced the ball out of bounds.

“We were trying to get Marcus the ball on the elbow and clear some room for him going to his right and they pushed everything left and trapped us on that side,” Randle said. “We got caught in a bad position.”

Korkmaz’s free throw with 4.2 seconds left sealed it for the 76ers.

Simmons had 16 points to help the 76ers build a 52-46 lead heading into the half. He shot 7 for 10 from the field and had couple of dunks in transition that brought the Madison Square Garden crowd to its feet, including a noticeable Philly contingent.

Sideline view

Two-time MVP Steve Nash watched from courtside and got an up-close view of Simmons directing the Sixers’ offense.

“Ben is a generational talent. Crazy athlete. He can play multiple positions on offense and defense,” Nash said.

“Obviously, his glaring weakness is his shooting, but he is so gifted that he can make up for it in other ways, and it’s about finding a way for him to be at his best in this group and that’s a challenge in this club — how all the pieces fit together.”

The two chatted briefly in the visitors’ locker room after the game. Simmons said he was looking to pick up some pointers from the eight-time All Star.

“He was just a great leader. I was watching highlights of some of his games, the way he played,” Simmons said. “He was relentless. He played through everything.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

ATLANTA— Derrick Rose has been rolling lately, and in a good way.

The 11th-year point guard, in his first season with the Detroit Pistons, is easily handling the minutes load and producing at a high clip.

Rose has battled injuries through much of his career, but the Pistons’ decision to hold him back earlier in the season is paying off.

“I feel like they were being cautious,” Rose said. “I keep showing them. I’m coming in, doing what I’m supposed to do, taking care of my body. I’ve been prepping for this all summer, so it’s finally just coming full circle.”

Rose had 27 points and nine assists, Svi Mykhailiuk added 25 points in a reserve role, and Detroit won its second straight game with an easy 136-103 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.

The Pistons had a season high in points and shot 59.3% from the field, two nights after shooting one percentage point better, a season high, in a win at Boston.

Markieff Morris finished with 22 points off the bench, and Andre Drummond had 16 points, 17 rebounds and five steals as the Pistons won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 9. They had gone 5-13 during that stretch.

The loss spoiled Jeff Teague’s first game back with the Hawks. Teague, who finished with 15 points and seven assists in 25 minutes, was traded from Minnesota to Atlanta two days eaerlier, returning to his adopted hometown team.

John Collins scored 20 and De’Andre Hunter added 19 for the Hawks, who dropped to an Eastern Conference-worst 10-33 and rank third-worst overall in opponents’ scoring average. They lacked energy after winning the night before at San Antonio for the first time in 21 years.

“We knew how they were going to attack us,” Collins said “We just didn’t execute our plan well. We came out a little slow and they hit us first, and we really didn’t respond too well.”

Spurred on by Rose having his eighth straight game of at least 20 points and a bench that totaled 76 points, the Pistons were never threatened in the second half, leading by 23 on Sekou Doumbouya’s 3 and Drummond’s layup at the 8:19 mark of the third. The lead soon swelled to 97-69 on two free throws by Morris and stood at 120-89 on Mykhailiuk’s 3 with 6:08 left in the game.

Rose was the catalyst throughout, looking like his vintage self when he picked off Trae Young, the NBA’s leader in turnovers and the league’s third-leading scorer, to feed Mykhailiuk for a layup that made it 112-78 with 10:21 remaining.

“I told him the other day he’s looking like his (2011) MVP season, man,” Morris said. “He’s quick. He’s making great decisions on the ball. He can play either off the bench or as a starter. Obviously we need to him to start because he’s scoring at a high level and leading this team.”

Detroit took its first double-digit lead on Morris’ 3 at the 4:30 mark of the first. The Pistons went up 65-45 with 3:42 left before halftime on a pair of free throws by Langston Galloway.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

BOSTON — Devin Booker sure loves playing in TD Garden.

His near triple-double effort was just barely enough for the Phoenix Suns to overcome Boston guard Marcus Smart’s performance.

Booker had 39 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists and the Suns withstood a franchise-record 11 3-pointers by Smart and beat the Celtics 123-119 on Saturday.

“You know, Book is — Book’s Book,” Phoenix coach Monty Williams said. “It’s something I don’t take for granted to have a guy that can get buckets like that.”

Deandre Ayton had 26 points and 15 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added a career-best 26 points for the Suns, who have won four of their last five games.

Smart shot 11 for 22 from 3-point range and finished with a career-best 37 points. His performance marked the first time in NBA history that a player made 11 or more 3-points in a losing effort, according to Stats.

“He obviously was shooting confidently, made some big shots late into the game and into the (first) half,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “He’s a tough guy and he got a lot of good looks and took advantage of it.”

Jayson Tatum scored 26 points and Gordon Hayward added 22 for Boston, which has lost three straight and six of eight.

Three years ago, Booker scored 70 points in a loss to the Celtics in TD Garden. He finished an assist shy of his first career triple-double.

The Celtics were missing two of their top three leading scorers — Kemba Walker (team-best 22.1 per game), out with left knee soreness, and Jaylen Brown (20.0), sidelined for the second straight game with a sprained right thumb.

But Smart kept them in it.

“Right now, it means nothing,” Smart said. “I’d trade all that in for a win, especially the way the team has been playing.”

Boston cut its deficit to 90-85 early in the fourth, but Dario Saric and Bridges answered with consecutive 3s. The Celtics had it down to 114-111 on Daniel Theis’ breakaway dunk with about a minute left, but Bridges hit a jumper in the lane with 37 seconds to play.

Booker’s two free throws sealed it with 4.8 seconds left.

“I feel like there were times where we could’ve put them away, but (an) experienced team that has been in this situation before is never gonna give up,” Booker said.

The Suns led 60-51 at halftime and answered — mainly behind Booker and Ayton — any surge by Boston. The lead never fell below seven in the quarter, with Booker scoring nine points and Ayton getting eight.

The loss of two key players showed for the Celtics in the first quarter when the Suns broke in front 26-10 before Boston’s bench helped spark a 15-0 run.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

NEW YORK — Their lead was only nine with a minute left in the first half and it looked like the Milwaukee Bucks might be on their way to a close game.

Then Khris Middleton hit two 3-pointers, and another rout was on for a team that just keeps racking them up.

“I think they are playing as good as anybody I’ve seen in a while in this league,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 12 rebounds, Middleton scored 20 points, and the Bucks beat Brooklyn 117-97 on Saturday night for their sixth straight victory.

The Bucks ran the NBA’s best record to 38-6. They came in beating opponents by 12.4 points per game, which would be a league record if it holds up all season, and their lead was never below that after Middleton hit consecutive 3s in the final minute of the second quarter when Brooklyn trailed just 51-42.

“I think we’re playing great basketball right now, but we know the later the season goes, the deeper we go into the playoffs, that we’ve got to continue to raise our level of play,” Middleton said.

Milwaukee coasted through the second half and fell just short of a fifth consecutive game with 120 points, which would have tied a franchise record set last season. The Bucks shot 50% from the field, made 17 3-pointers and held the short-handed Nets to 33% shooting.

That wasn’t enough to satisfy Antetokounmpo, the league MVP when the Bucks had the league’s best record last year before they couldn’t even reach the NBA Finals.

“We were good last year, but obviously we didn’t win the championship,” he said. “We want to (be) a team that can be (there) at the end of the year to compete for the championship. We’ve got to get better. There’s not another option.”

Kyrie Irving had 17 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Nets. Rookie reserve Nic Claxton added 14 points and six boards.

The Nets dropped their third straight as they scuffle through a rough part of their schedule that includes visits from both conference leaders in a six-night stretch. They host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.

“Great players come in and great teams come in, they’re playing well. We’re still trying to establish what that continuity, consistency looks like for us, so we’ll continue to battle,” Irving said.

The Bucks, who didn’t trail in either of their previous two games, fell behind by four early in this one. They quickly erased that and closed the first quarter with a 7-0 run for a 30-22 lead, then got 10 points apiece from Antetokounmpo and Middleton in the second quarter to extend the lead to 57-42.

Antetokounmpo then knocked down Milwaukee’s third straight 3 to open the scoring in the second half, and the lead would eventually grow to 25 points.

Milwaukee has won 16 of the last 19 meetings.

Source: Manila Bulletin