National Basketball Association
Milwaukee 98, Oklahoma City 94
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, January 2, 2017
Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Officials: #5 Kane Fitzgerald, #7 Lauren Holtkamp, #58 Josh Tiven
Attendance: 17423

MILWAUKEE -- Just about anyone who even remotely follows the National Basketball Association knows what Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook can do, but people still are learning about the talents of Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Westbrook put forth his usual contributions Monday night with a game-high 30 points, but it was Antetokounmpo who came out on top. He scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds and five assists to lead the Bucks to a 98-94 victory in front of 17,423 at the Bradley Center.

"You look at what he does on a consistent basis, that's what stars are measured on," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "Giannis isn't just about scoring the ball. He's able to make plays -- he makes winning plays -- and that's what stars do in this league. So for what he's done here, from the beginning of the season, you can see his confidence is growing."

Westbrook, the NBA leader in triple-doubles this season, led all scorers but had to work for every point as he went 9-for-28 from the floor and just 2-for-10 from beyond the arc.

"We were trying to put as many bodies in front of him as we could to try and slow him down," Kidd said. "He's going to come at you no matter what. It doesn't matter if you have five guys guarding him, he's going to come."

After Milwaukee took control of the game late in the third, Westbrook tied things up at 94 midway through the fourth and with the Thunder down two in the final minutes, he had several chances to put Oklahoma City ahead.

Westbrook's 3-point attempt with 35 seconds left was deflected out of bounds by Oklahoma City, but Jabari Parker couldn't hold onto a pass from Malcolm Brogdon on Milwaukee's ensuing possession, giving the Thunder one more chance with 14.2 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, Westbrook got another chance, bringing the ball up the court and attempting to drive into the lane only to be stopped when Bucks guard Tony Snell reached in and tapped the ball out of bounds. Originally, it was ruled out on Snell but review showed the ball hit Westbrook's knee, giving Milwaukee the ball and Brogdon sank two free throws to close it.

"I thought we were going to get it back, but obviously we didn't, and it went off of us," Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said. "What we wanted to do was give him an open floor. Hopefully, they were going to pull up on him and force space."

Despite Westbrook's struggles, the Thunder shot well, hitting 46.2 percent of their shots, and went 9-for-27 from beyond the arc. Steven Adams was a dominant force down low, hitting nine of 11 shots to finish with 18 while Victor Oladipo scored 18.

"I think we fought on defense the entire game," Domantas Sabonis said. "We just had some final possessions on offense that we didn't make that if we would have made them it would have changed the whole game."

The Thunder opened the game 11 of 11 from the floor to lead by as many as 15 points in the first quarter, but the Bucks managed to hang around, though they couldn't quite close the gap. They trailed by six at the break but came out hot to start the third quarter and made it 61-60. Parker put Milwaukee ahead by making a 3-pointer with 4:28 left in the quarter.

The Bucks went into the fourth quarter up seven, but the Thunder responded, tying the score at 86 midway through the quarter on an Oladipo layup.

Henson put Milwaukee back in front on a short jumper with 3:06 left. Westbrook tied it at 94 with a 16-footer, but Henson came through again with under a minute to play, putting Milwaukee ahead for good.

"We knew we were in for a fight," Kidd said. "That's a very good team with a lot of talented players."

NOTES: Milwaukee snapped a three-game losing streak to the Thunder. ... Russell Westbrook scored 30 points for the league-leading 30th time this season. ... Giannis Antetokounmpo has had at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in each of his last seven games. ... The Thunder fell to 3-7 when scoring less than 100 points this season. ... Milwaukee is 11-4 when holding opponents to 99 points or fewer. ... Semaj Christon set a career high Monday, finishing with 11 points for the Thunder.
Top Game Performances
 
Oklahoma City   Milwaukee
Russell Westbrook 30 Scoring Giannis Antetokounmpo 26
Russell Westbrook 6 Assists Giannis Antetokounmpo 5
Steven Adams 8 Rebounds Giannis Antetokounmpo 10
Russell Westbrook 10 Free Throws Made Giannis Antetokounmpo 5
Russell Westbrook 3 Steals Giannis Antetokounmpo 1
Steven Adams 3 Blocks Giannis Antetokounmpo 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Oklahoma City 94 46.2 9-27 13-19 20 40 5 7 11
Milwaukee 98 48.1 7-19 15-24 21 39 4 4 12
Upcoming Games
  • Milwaukee will play their next game on the road against New York. The Bucks have a W/L % of .412 after a win and .625 after a loss.
  • Oklahoma City will play their next game on the road against Charlotte. The Thunder have a W/L % of .636 after a win and .538 after a loss.