Middleton’s 44 leads Milwaukee past Phoenix

Khris Middleton scored a season-high 44 points, Jrue Holiday had 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied to beat the short-handed Phoenix Suns 132-122.

Milwaukee outscored Phoenix 12-1 over the last three minutes to win in the Suns’ first visit since Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points in a Game 6 NBA Finals victory last season, which gave the Bucks their first NBA title in 50 years.

In their only previous matchup this season, the Suns won 131-107 in Phoenix last month.

The NBA-leading Suns were playing without their usual All-Star starting backcourt of Devin Booker and Chris Paul.

Booker missed his third straight game due to the NBA’s Covid health and safety protocols. Paul broke his right thumb Feb 16.

Phoenix also was missing the injured Cam Johnson, two days after he scored 38 points in a 115-114 victory over the New York Knicks.

The Bucks trailed by five in the final period and withstood the foul trouble of Antetokounmpo, who had 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes before fouling out with 1:12 left.

Elsewhere, Jayson Tatum erupted for 54 points as the Boston Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 123-117 on Sunday.

Tatum’s virtuoso performance means the 24-year-old has now tied Celtics legend Larry Bird’s franchise record of four career 50-point performances.

The victory was the Celtics’ 14th win in their last 16 outings, and leaves them in fifth place in the NBA Eastern Conference standings with 39 wins and 27 losses.

Tatum’s display stymied a Brooklyn side who welcomed both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to the same starting line-up for only the fourth time this season.

Durant finished with 37 points for the Nets while former Celtics player Irving added 19.

Irving was taunted mercilessly throughout by Boston’s raucous home crowd at the TD Garden.

Boston hit their stride down the stretch and pulled clear thanks to an 18-point fourth quarter haul from Tatum to seal victory in a game that saw the lead change hands 28 times.

“It’s fun the way we’re playing,” Tatum said afterwards.

“Obviously we’ve been on a good stretch. We’re just having fun competing. It wasn’t always pretty today but everyone contributed and we just figured it out.” (AP, AFP)

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Last updated: 2022-03-07 HKT 08:18