Khris Middleton said the Milwaukee Bucks are having to learn how to win in different ways after impressing in the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo against the Sacramento Kings.
Having needed to rely on an impressive defensive showing against the Chicago Bulls, it was the turn of the offense to turn it on in a 133-127 triumph against the Kings.
Middleton had 34 points, while Jrue Holiday put up 26 as the Bucks chalked up another tick in the win column despite Antetokounmpo missing out with soreness in his right knee.
"We just need to be able to win different type of ballgames," Middleton said after the defending champions moved to 29-19 on the season.
''Every game is not going to be perfect, every game is not going to be pretty. To get defensive stops, to get 50-50 balls like we did [against the Bulls], it helps.
"When you hit shots like we did tonight, it also helps."
Middleton made a key three-pointer with one minute and nine seconds remaining on the clock, with the Kings having fought back to within three points.
Holiday felt Middleton's effort was key in helping the Bucks get over the line.
"I feel like this is what he has been doing," Holiday said. ''He makes timely threes. He makes big shots, especially in that moment when they had momentum. He just came down and laced them, took advantage."
Donte DiVincenzo (20 points), George Hill (17) and Pat Connaughton (15) all made valuable contributions for Milwaukee to earn praise from Middleton.
"I think they were great," he added.
"Pat got hot for us. George did a great job at the point guard position, just controlling the team. Defensively he was all over the place, coming down for rebounds and helping box out.
"Pat has played so many different positions. It's weird to see him playing the center. He's a selfless guy doing anything that can help."
The Chicago Bulls have announced that guard Alex Caruso will miss six to eight weeks due to a wrist injury sustained in a controversial moment in Friday's 94-90 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Caruso will undergo surgery early next week for a fractured right wrist, having been fouled by Milwaukee's Grayson Allen, who was subsequently ejected.
The former Lakers guard joins Lonzo Ball on the sidelines for the 28-16 Bulls, who have lost five of their past six games.
Caruso's agent Greg Lawrence called Allen's foul, deemed flagrant 2 by the officials, a "cheap shot" given the significant injury it had caused. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan had labelled Allen's act as "dangerous" after the game.
The 27-year-old guard played out the game but admitted his wrist continued to bother him, impacting his shooting.
The return of Anthony Davis is imminent with the Los Angeles Lakers listing the All-Star as "questionable" for Sunday's game against the Miami Heat.
Davis has been out of action since December 17 due to a sprained MCL in his left knee but he is considered a game-time decision for Sunday.
The Lakers, who are 23-23 this season, have gone 7-9 in Davis' absence across the past 16 games.
"Whenever AD is ready, we're going to love that, that's for sure," Davis' Lakers teammate LeBron James told reporters on Friday.
"I mean he's one of our biggest guns that we have, and having him on the floor, it just creates so much for us offensively and defensively, able to do so much more.
"But his health is what's most important, and once we know that he's healthy, he knows that he's healthy, we get him back on the floor and then we start getting his wind and his rhythm."
Davis is averaging 23.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.2 steals this season.
Khris Middleton stepped up in Giannis Antetokounmpo's absence with 34 points as the Milwaukee Bucks brushed aside the Sacramento Kings 133-127 on Saturday.
Antetokounmpo missed the game for the reigning champions with a knee injury but Middleton picked up the slack with 34 points including five triples along with six rebounds and five assists.
Jrue Holiday also contributed strongly with 26 points, five rebounds and four assists as the Bucks responded after a slow start with a 71-point second half.
Tyrese Haliburton was the Kings' best with 24 points including five three-pointers and 12 assists.
Milwaukee's 17th road win improves their record to 30-19, sitting fourth in the congested Eastern Conference standings.
OKC downed by Cavs
The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered their fifth straight loss, going down 94-87 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs, who are fifth in the east, were led by Darius Garland with 23 points and 11 assists along with Evan Mobley who had 15 points and 17 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points for OKC.
Booker off as Suns rise
Chris Paul produced a masterclass with 18 points and 16 assists as the Phoenix Suns flexed their muscle with a 113-103 win over the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers had beaten the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors on their road trip but the Suns were too hot to handle, even with Devin Booker only managing 11 points, shooting five-of-23 from the field.
After 13 years in the NBA, Stephen Curry finally knows the exhilaration of hitting a buzzer-beater.
He kicked out at a courtside chair in frustration at one point on Friday evening, but the two-time MVP saved a big shot for last, his stepback 20-footer giving the Golden State Warriors a 105-103 win over the Houston Rockets.
Curry, whose shooting from the field has fallen short of his usual high standard this season, finished the game with 22 points and 12 assists, with the wobbling Warriors bouncing back from a sorry 121-117 overtime defeat to a depleted Indiana Pacers the previous night.
In the Pacers game, Curry had scored 39 points, but against Houston he made just six of 21 shots from the field. Ultimately, it hardly mattered thanks to his last-ditch heroics.
"It's good to know what that feels like finally," Curry said of his special moment. "We know we dropped a ball last night, and for 30 minutes or so this game was all over the place.
"Throughout the course of the season you can go through different dry spells.
"We're second in the West, and we're fine. We obviously know we've got to play better if we're going to win a championship. But there are different ways to lose basketball games and last night didn't set well with any of us.
"We had a good talk in our pre-game meeting about what we needed to do. There's always that uneasiness of knowing what you've got to do and then going out and doing it and dealing with adversity in the game when you're trying to show up and trying to bounce back, and that's what tonight was."
Curry spoke of an improved mentality from the Pacers game.
"It reminds you to keep the big-picture perspective on what we're trying to do, realise what it takes to continue to try to win at this level," said 33-year-old Curry.
"I liked the way we fought. Everyone contributed down the stretch leading up to the shot to give us a chance. We needed it, obviously. We've got to try to build on it and bring some joy back."
Even as his radar appeared to be off, Curry never stopped going for his shots.
"The worst thing you could do is shy away from that next opportunity," he said.
"The fact I had a shot to win it was because everybody stayed locked in, stayed focused and competed. That's a great sign in terms of what we're trying to build on."
His field-goal shooting is down at 42 per cent this season, by far the lowest of any year in his career, bar 2019-20 when he played just five times. Curry's career average is 47.2 per cent, and he knows he can improve.
"Somebody told me my open shots were like six or seven per cent lower than they usually are. There's no reason other than you're just missing shots," Curry said. "I obsess over it, but I don't panic. If I did, I wouldn't be shooting as much as I am to try to get myself through it.
"I know I've got to shoot the ball better, and I want to shoot it better, and I'm going to shoot it better. Everything else I feel pretty good about.
"You want to be as efficient as possible, but you also want to win games, and whatever it takes to do that is the most important."
Doc Rivers gave a cold response when his coaching methods were questioned following the Philadelphia 76ers' loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Sixers slipped to 26-19 after giving up a 24-point lead on Friday, with Reggie Jackson's 19 points, including two free throws with a little over 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter, securing a 102-101 victory for Los Angeles.
The collapse drew comparisons with last season's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Philadelphia blew a 26-point advantage at home to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5. The Hawks went on to win the series 4-3.
With the Clippers missing Paul George and Kawhi Leonard for Friday's game, the defeat led to increased frustration on social media among a fan base that has never wholly warmed to Rivers since he took charge in 2020.
That the loss came against the team he spent seven years with from 2013, one sitting eighth in the East, only made matters worse.
However, Rivers took exception to a question suggesting his coaching was to blame, arguing Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs would never be asked the same.
"Would you ask Pop that question? No, you wouldn't," he said. "So don't ask me that question. I've earned that.
"It's a game we should have won, and we didn't."
Joel Embiid followed up his 50 points on Wednesday with 40 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, but his efforts proved in vain.
"We have a lot of guys out and that could contribute, but that's not an excuse," he said.
"We've got to be better prepared. We got to know our assignments. We just got to be focused."
Tobias Harris, who posted 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, simply said: "Honestly, we just blew this one and we all know that in the locker room."
The Sixers are at the Spurs on Sunday.
Kyrie Irving revealed how some stern words from Brooklyn Nets team-mate James Harden provided the catalyst for his fourth-quarter blitz against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Nets moved into top spot in the Eastern Conference with a hard-fought 117-102 win over the Spurs on Friday.
While Harden put up 37 points with 10 rebounds and 11 assists, Irving had only nine points heading into the final quarter and was scoreless in the third.
He put that right with a 15-point showing down the stretch and then offered an insight into what had inspired his late flurry.
"James kind of yelled at me," Irving said. "It's not a negative yell, but he yelled at me, 'Kai, get the f*****g ball!' in the third quarter after he scored [12 points] in the quarter.
"I kind of took that personal. I just wanted to come out in the fourth quarter in an aggressive mindset and just play within the flow of the offense."
It was a reaction that saw the shackles thrown off for the Nets, who are now 29-16, and Harden never doubted Irving's ability to turn it on.
"For sure, it was a breakthrough," said Harden. "He's capable of doing that at any moment and any point in the game.
"That's one of the reasons why we need him every single game, because he's able to do that, especially with everything that's going on with our team.
"But he's able and more than capable of doing things like that whenever he wants. I think he just tries to get us involved a little bit more, but he's a special talent.
"We have a decent rhythm between one another of just getting out of each other's way but also demanding each other to play at that level.
"When it's us going together and us doing it as a tandem or a duo, it opens up the space for everyone. When we're playing with the unbelievable pace like we were in the fourth quarter, I don't see too many teams that can keep up with that."
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