MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points and moved into second place on the Milwaukee Bucks’ career scoring list in a 132-94 romp over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
The Bucks beat the 76ers for the second time in three days to hand Philadelphia its fourth straight loss. Playing without All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the 76ers matched their lowest point total and suffered their most-lopsided loss of the season.
Embiid, who scored 24 points against the Bucks on Thursday, didn’t play due to a sore right shoulder. Simmons missed a fourth straight game because of an unspecified illness.
Khris Middleton found Antetokounmpo for a dunk early in the third quarter that enabled the reigning two-time MVP to overtake Glenn Robinson and become the Bucks’ second-leading career scorer. Antetokounmpo increased his career total to 12,223.
Robinson scored 12,010 points for the Bucks from 1994-2002. The Bucks’ leading scorer is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had 14,211 points while playing for Milwaukee from 1969-75 and went on to finish his career with an NBA-record 38,387 points.
Antetokounmpo also had 14 rebounds and seven assists despite playing just 24 minutes. He sat out the entire fourth quarter with most of the other Bucks starters.
Philadelphia (39-21) dropped a full game behind the Brooklyn Nets (40-20) in the Eastern Conference standings. Milwaukee (37-22) is third in the East, 2 1/2 games behind Brooklyn and 1 1/2 back of Philadelphia.
Bobby Portis added 17 points for the Bucks. Bryn Forbes and Jordan Nwora scored 13 each. Jrue Holiday had 12. Donte DiVincenzo and Pat Connaughton added 11 apiece.
Shane Milton and Tyrese Maxey scored 15 points each to lead the 76ers. Dwight Howard had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Milwaukee took the lead for good less than three minutes into the game.
Philadelphia’s Seth Curry scored seven points during a 10-0 run that cut Milwaukee’s lead to 55-54 in the third quarter. The Bucks wasted no time regaining control, as Antetokounmpo had eight points and two assists during a 15-0 spurt that put Milwaukee ahead 75-57.
The Bucks poured it on from there.
Milwaukee swept the regular-season series with the 76ers, who haven’t been at full strength for any of these matchups.
Milwaukee won 109-105 in overtime at Philadelphia on March 17 when the 76ers were missing Embiid due to a bruised left knee. The Bucks won 124-117 at Milwaukee on Thursday with Simmons out.
TIP-INS
76ers: Reserves Furkan Korkmaz (right ankle sprain) and Paul Reed (health and safety protocols) also were unavailable Saturday. … 76ers coach Doc Rivers, a former Marquette star, said he had dinner with new Marquette coach Shaka Smart on Friday. Marquette and the Bucks both play their home games at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. “It was good to see him in Marquette gear,” Rivers said about the former Texas coach. “The first thing I told him was you look so much better than in that burnt orange stuff.” During his introductory press conference at Marquette, Smart called Rivers one of his mentors.
Bucks: Milwaukee won easily without getting much from Middleton, who picked up a pair of fouls in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game and ended up with a season-low four points in 20 minutes. He shot 0 for 6 from the floor.
UP NEXT
76ers: Host Oklahoma City on Monday as they try to avoid their first five-game skid since December 2017. The 76ers won 117-93 at Oklahoma City on April 10.
Bucks: Visit Atlanta on Sunday as they begin a four-game trip. The Bucks won 129-115 and 120-109 in their two previous meetings with the Hawks.
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