Giannis sets assists mark, hurts wrist; Bucks beat Bulls

CHICAGO (AP)— Giannis Antetokounmpo stayed on the ground, grimacing in painbefore heading to the locker room. A sprained wrist in the earlygoing ended his night.

Not before heset yet another franchise record.

Antetokounmpo became Milwaukee’scareer assists leaderbefore getting injured, and theBucks won their 12th straight, beating the Chicago Bulls 112-100 onThursday night.

Brook Lopezscored a season-high 33 points. Jevon Carter had 22 against hishometown team, and Jrue Holiday added 15 points and nineassists.

The Buckswere never seriously threatened. But Antetokounmpo’s injury earlyin the second quarter cast a bit of a cloud over a team thatotherwise has so much going for it heading into the All-Starbreak.

Coach MikeBudenholzer said initial reports were “hopeful” and the X-ray was“clean.”

“We’ll justsee how he feels tomorrow, see how he feels the next few days andcontinue to evaluate it,” Budenholzer said.

He had “noidea” if Antetokounmpo would travel to Salt Lake City for theAll-Star Game.

The two-timeMVP was hurt trying to block a finger roll attempt by Chicago’sCoby White after the guard drove past him. He jammed his wrist whenhe reached out — perhaps to soften the blow — as he crashed intothe padded stanchion. He continued to flex his hand and got subbedout a few seconds later before heading to the locker room.

“He’s a guythat’s attacking the basket all the time,” Budenholzer said. “He’sfearless. He takes a lot of falls so you kind of learn to justexpect him to always just bounce back up, and that’s what we’rehoping for from this one.”

Antetokounmpofinished with a season-low two points and three assists, giving him3,274 over 10 seasons to break Paul Pressey’s record of 3,272 from1982 to 1990. He also had seven rebounds.

SETTING THE RECORD

Antetokounmpomatched the assists mark when he fed Lopez for a 3-pointer twominutes into the game and broke it when he passed to Carter foranother 3 that bumped Milwaukee’s lead to 19-10 in the firstquarter. He also is the Bucks’ career leader in blocks,triple-doubles, free throws made, free throws attempted andminutes.

“It’sgreatness, right?” Holiday said. “Especially to do it with onefranchise, to be here through the ups and the downs, to see wherehe started and where he is now. I’m so happy for him.”

Lopez madethree 3-pointers. Carter hit four from beyond the arc, and theBucks beat Chicago for the first time in three games thisseason.

SLIDECONTINUES

The Bullslost their sixth in a row, their worst skid since dropping sixstraight in the 2020-21 season. They also fell seven games under.500 at 26-33, not what they envisioned after making the playoffs ayear ago.

NikolaVucevic had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Zach LaVine scored 18, andPatrick Williams had 16 points.

“We’re notjust throwing in the towel,” LaVine said. “I don’t think we havethe type of team or personnel to do that. Losing hurts.”

SIDELINED STARS

Both teamswere missing stars, with Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton managing asore right knee that has kept him out for a big portion of theseason and Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan sidelined for the second time inas many nights because of a strained right quadriceps.

TIP-INS

Bucks: ThoughMiddleton’s absence was not expected, coach Mike Budenholzer saidthe three-time All-Star did not experience a setback against Bostonon Tuesday. Middleton had 16 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutesagainst the Celtics. “I think we’re overall not concerned, butwe’ll see how he does over the break and just continue to work withhim and make sure he’s in a good place when he plays,” Budenholzersaid.

Bulls: TheBulls said DeRozan is expected to play in the All-Star Game onSunday. ... G Ayo Dosunmu was selected to replace injured HoustonRockets guard Jalen Green on fellow former Illinois star DeronWilliams’ team in Friday’s Rising Stars game. The Chicago productplayed in the game as a rookie last year and was averaging 9.6points and 2.9 assists in his second season after being drafted inthe second round. Dosunmu called it a “blessing” to be selectedagain and said Williams was “a big mentor” for him in the draftprocess.