Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo drives against Detroit’s Kelly Olynyk during Milwaukee’s 131-101 win Friday night. Paul Sancya/Associated Press
DETROIT — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists to help the Milwaukee Bucks rout the Detroit Pistons 131-101 on Friday night.
Averaging 29.9 points, Antetokounmpo needs 35 points or more Sunday in the season finale at Cleveland to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only Milwaukee players to average 30 points for a season.
Brook Lopez added 17 points and Khris Middleton had 15. The defending champion Bucks led by 32 points en route to their third straight victory. They improved to 51-30 and can clinch the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a win in their season finale Sunday at Cleveland.
Rodney McGruder had a career-high 26 points for Detroit. Saddiq Bey (20) and Cade Cunningham (14) were the only starters to reach double figures.
The Pistons missed 15 of their first 16 field-goal attempts, falling behind 23-4. Detroit finished with an NBA-season-low eight points in the first quarter, falling behind by 22.
NETS 118, CAVALIERS 107: Kevin Durant scored 36 points, leading a pair of fourth-quarter surges that carried Brooklyn into a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a victory over visiting Cleveland.
The Nets caught the Cavaliers at 43-38 with a game remaining and clinched the tiebreaker. They will finish seventh if they beat Indiana on Sunday in their final regular-season game. The No. 7 team hosts No. 8 on Tuesday, moving into the playoffs with a victory.
The loser of the 7-8 game has a second shot at the postseason by beating the winner of the game between the Nos. 9 and 10 teams on Friday.
RAPTORS 117, ROCKETS 115: Pascal Siakam had 29 points and 10 rebounds, Gary Trent Jr. made the winning layup with 4.8 seconds left and Toronto won at home.
Trent added 26 points for the Raptors in their home finale. With one game left in the regular season, they will be no worse than the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors finished with a 24-17 record at home, while the last-place Rockets lost their sixth in a row and finished with NBA-worst 9-32 road record.
HORNETS 133, BULLS 117: LaMelo Ball scored 24 points and visiting Charlotte buried Chicago early, handing the listless Bulls their fourth straight loss.
The Hornets led 79-51 at halftime – the most points allowed in a half this season by Chicago, which is assured of finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference.
HEAT 113, HAWKS 109: Bam Adebayo made the go-ahead dunk with 27 seconds remaining and scored 27 points in Miami’s win over visiting Atlanta.
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, Kyle Lowry finished with 16 points and Tyler Herro had 15 for the Heat, who have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. They finished on a 10-2 run.
Trae Young scored 35 points for Atlanta, which dropped into a tie for ninth place with Charlotte.
KNICKS 114, WIZARDS 92: Obi Toppin scored a career-high 35 points, and New York won at Washington.
RJ Barrett scored 14 points for the Knicks before leaving the game because of a sprained right knee. His early exit came on a night when a number of key players from both teams didn’t play at all. Both teams are eliminated from playoff contention. New York (36-45) moved a game ahead of Washington (35-46) for 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
MAVERICKS 127, TRAIL BLAZERS 78: Luka Doncic had 39 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas, which will open the playoffs at home for the first time since 2011 after its win at home against Portland.
Dwight Powell added 18 points, Dorian Finney-Smith 15 and Spencer Dinwiddie 14 for the Mavericks (51-30), who are guaranteed a top-four seed in the Western Conference.
NOTES
LAKERS: LeBron James will miss the final two games of the season because of a sprained left ankle, almost certainly preventing him from winning his second NBA scoring title.
James, 37, averaged 30.3 points this season while playing in only 56 games, two shy of the minimum to qualify for the scoring title with his full points-per-game average. The second-leading scorer in NBA history has played in only one game since spraining his ankle March 27, scoring 38 points in a crushing home loss to New Orleans on April 1.
James is slightly behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who is averaging 30.4 points per game in one of the closest scoring title races in NBA history. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is third at 29.9 points per game.
James is a four-time league MVP with four championship rings, but he won his only scoring title back in 2008 with Cleveland. The 18-time All-Star was attempting to become the oldest scoring champion in NBA history by surpassing Michael Jordan, who was 35 when he won his final title.
BUCKS: Milwaukee signed guard Rayjon Tucker after a big season with the G League.
Tucker spent most of this season with the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ NBA G League affiliate. The 24-year-old averaged 19.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 33 minutes in 40 games.
Tucker, who is 6-foot-3, appeared in three games with the Denver Nuggets this season while on a 10-day contract. He also played 14 games for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020-21 and 20 games for the Utah Jazz in 2019-20.
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