NEW YORK — Giannis Antetokounmpo passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become Milwaukee’s career scoring leader on a 3-pointer that forced overtime, and then made two free throws in the final seconds to give the Bucks a 120-119 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night.
The defending NBA champions clinched a return to the postseason with the win, in which Antetokounmpo had 44 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton had 16 before being ejected for a flagrant foul midway through the third quarter.
Kevin Durant had 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Nets, but missed a 3-pointer that would have won it. Kyrie Irving scored 25 points and Bruce Brown had 23.
Just as in the memorable end to their second-round series last summer, when the Bucks overcame 48 points from Durant — most ever in a Game 7 — overtime was needed to determine a winner. Milwaukee took that one 115-111 and pulled it out Thursday out behind a second straight 40-point game from Antetokounmpo.
He came into the game 39 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s career scoring leader who had 14,211 points after beginning his career in Milwaukee.
Antetokounmpo passed him with a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left that knotted it at 110.
PISTONS 102, 76ERS 94: Saddiq Bey scored 10 of his 20 points in the final 4:23 as Detroit pulled away down the stretch and beat visiting Philadelphia.
Cade Cunningham scored 27 points for Detroit, which snapped a three-game losing streak and had a 39-8 edge in scoring off the bench.
Joel Embiid had 37 points and 15 rebounds and James Harden finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the 76ers.
Detroit didn’t lead until the fourth quarter, and Isaiah Livers’ 3-pointer with 5:05 left gave the Pistons a 90-87 advantage.
After Harden missed, Bey made it 93-87 with another 3-pointer, forcing Sixers Coach Doc Rivers to call a timeout.
Embiid answered with a dunk, but Bey scored seven points in a 9-0 run that gave the Pistons a 102-89 lead with 1:54 to play.
Embiid had 18 points and nine rebounds in the first half, going 10 for 11 from the line.
Philadelphia attempted 20 free throws in the half compared to four for Detroit. But the Pistons’ 21-0 advantage in bench points kept them within 54-50.
Detroit stayed close through most of the third, but Embiid dunked over Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart to give the Sixers a 79-73 lead going into the fourth.
HAWKS 131, CAVALIERS 107: Trae Young scored 30 points and host Atlanta never trailed while beating short-handed Cleveland to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
Cedi Osman led Cleveland with 21 points. Darius Garland had 18 points and eight assists while sitting out the final quarter of the blowout loss..
Young had nine assists as the Hawks’ fourth consecutive win clinched no worse than the No. 10 spot in the Eastern Conference and a berth in the play-in tournament.
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