Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton, center, scored 18 points on the fourth quarter as the Bucks beat the Magic to taker a 3-1 series lead. Ashley Landis, Pool via AP
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, Khris Middleton finally came alive with a huge fourth quarter and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic 121-106 on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
Middleton scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 rebounds after being held to one field goal in the first three quarters on 1-of-9 shooting.
Wesley Matthews added 12 points for the Bucks, who can close out the Magic on Wednesday.
“It’s just intensity and attention to detail,” Matthews said after the game. “Game 1 we came out a little flat. Credit the Magic, they made shots. … We had to pick up our intensity.”
Nikola Vucevic continued his strong play for the Magic, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Terrence Ross had 19 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Milwaukee has now won three straight after losing the series opener to the eighth-seeded Magic.
The top-seeded Bucks led by three entering the fourth quarter before Middleton came alive. He scored 11 points during an 18-2 run on three 3-pointers and a mid-range jumper off an inbouds play to help the Bucks build a 102-83 lead as the Magic went cold from outside.
Antetokounmpo finished the game 14 of 21 from the field, but did most of his damage inside the paint where he was 12 of 14.
THUNDER 117, ROCKETS 114: Dennis Schroder scored a career playoff-high 30 points and Oklahoma City rallied from 15 points down in the third quarter to beat Houston to even the first-round Western Conference playoff series at two wins apiece.
Chris Paul scored 26 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder, who won despite allowing 23 3-pointers.
James Harden had 32 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds for Houston. Eric Gordon scored 23 points and Danuel House added 21 for the Rockets, who won the first two games of the series.
HEAT 99, PACERS 87: Goran Dragic scored 23 points and fifth-seeded Miami completed a first-round sweep of Indiana.
Tyler Herro had 16 points and Bam Adebayo added 14 points and 19 rebounds for the Heat, who made it out of the first round for the first time since 2016.
Victor Oladipo had 25 points and Myles Turner added 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Pacers, who have dropped four straight postseason series to the Heat since 2012.
Miami’s bench outscored Indiana’s depleted reserves 38-3.
SUNDAY’S LATE GAME
JAZZ 129, NUGGETS 127: Donovan Mitchell scored 18 of his 51 points in the fourth quarter and Utah withstood a 50-point night from Jamal Murray to beat Denver and take a 3-1 lead in the playoff series.
Mitchell was 15 of 27 from the floor and went 17 of 18 from the free throw line. The 23-year-old Mitchell scored 57 points in Game 1. He’s averaging 39.5 points in the series. The Jazz can close it out in Game 5 on Tuesday.
Murray, who hit a long 3-pointer near the buzzer, had the most-ever by a Denver player in a postseason game, surpassing Spencer Haywood’s mark of 45 in an ABA playoff contest on April 19, 1970. Murray also had 11 rebounds.
Nikola Jokic added 29 points, including three dunks. Jokic is not known for his dunking despite his 7-foot frame.
NOTES
CELTICS: Gordon Hayward flew home to be with his family after doing his initial rehab work in the Orlando bubble in his attempt to recover from a Grade 3 sprain of his right ankle.
Estimates don’t have the Celtics forward being available unless the Celtics reach the Eastern Conference Finals, but this will be complicated by Hayward’s stated desire to be present when wife Robyn gives birth to their fourth child in October.
But Coach Brad Stevens can’t think that far ahead. With Hayward, his thoughts are strictly on the forward’s recovery.
“I don’t have any idea of that timeline,” said Stevens. “That’s dependent. The plan of attack from what I’ve been told is when he’s closing in on being ready to play, he’ll be back.
“He’ll just do rehab where he is – that’s all I know.”
TELEVISION: Shaquille O’Neal won’t be leaving “Inside the NBA” anytime soon. In fact, viewers are going to be seeing more of him across Turner’s many platforms.
Turner Sports and WarnerMedia announced Monday that they have reached a multi-year extension with O’Neal, who joined Turner in 2011 after a 19-year Hall of Fame NBA career
During a telephone interview with The Associated Press, O’Neal said discussions were happening before the coronavirus pandemic halted everything in March.
“I’m happy to be with Ernie (Johnson Jr.), Charles (Barkley) and Kenny (Smith) for longer. I love working with them,” O’Neal said. “The first two years were difficult, I was trying to be Bryant Gumbel or the next Ernie Johnson. Then I realized Ernie is Ernie and they wanted me to be Shaq. Once I loosened up, things were a lot better.”
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