Bucks beat Trail Blazers 127-108 for 8th straight win

PORTLAND,Ore. (AP) — Brook Lopez scored 27 points and the Milwaukee Bucksstretched their winning streak to eight games with a 127-108victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

GiannisAntetokounmpo had 24 points and 13 rebounds as the Bucks led thewhole way, pushing their advantage to 26 in the second half.

Lopez, whopulled down nine rebounds, topped all scorers with 17 points athalftime and Milwaukee led 58-48. He hit a 3-pointer with 10:41left in the third quarter that gave him 15,000 career points.

“I have along way to still go, a long time to still play. I’m just enjoyingit and I want to keep getting better, keep being an effectiveplayer out there, being the best player I could be,” said Lopez,who is in his 14th season. “I’m lucky that there are people thatare out there trying to help me, trying to make me better and putme in that position.”

DamianLillard led the Blazers with 28 points. Antetokounmpo and Lillardwere selected the NBA’s players of the week earlier in the day.

Lillardaveraged 38.3 points and 6.8 assists last week for his secondstraight POTW honor, while Antetokounmpo averaged 41 points and17.3 rebounds.

Antetokounmpostarted despite right knee soreness. The two-time league MVP had atriple-double with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists onSaturday to lead the Bucks to a 123-115 victory over Miami.

Portland wascoming off a 129-121 loss at Chicago on Saturday that snapped athree-game winning streak

With centerJusuf Nurkic unavailable because of a left calf strain, the Blazersstruggled against the bigger Bucks.

Milwaukee ledby as many as 15 in the first half, but Lillard drained a 3 fromabout two feet inside the half-court line that brought gasps andthen cheers from the home crowd.

The Bucksfinished the third period on a 22-8 run to lead 95-71.

Portland madejust nine of 36 attempts from 3-point range.

“They madesome adjustments to their defense this year, to be honest withyou,” Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “They used to giveup like the most 3s in the league because of that drop coverage.Not this year. I’ve got to give them a ton of credit. (Bucks coachMike Budenholzer) has done a really good job. They’re still areally dominant defense but they’re not giving up as many 3s, soyou’ve got to work even harder to get those looks.”

TIP-INS

Bucks: Alsowon the first of their two meetings with the Blazers this season,119-111 in Milwaukee. ... It was the opener of a three-game roadtrip. ... The Bucks’ longest winning streak this season is ninegames.

TrailBlazers: Had only one offensive rebound. ... GM Joe Cronin wasamong the team representatives at a roundtable with WNBACommissioner Cathy Engelbert to pitch Portland as a possible WNBAexpansion city. Oregon women’s coach Kelly Graves and Oregon Statecoach Scott Rueck were also on hand.

SLIGHT ADJUSTMENTS

Because ofweather-related flight delays that forced the postponement of theWashington Wizards’ game at Detroit on Feb. 1, a few adjustmentswere made to the NBA schedule that impact the Bucks andBlazers.

Milwaukee’sgame at Washington originally set for March 6 was moved to March 5,and Portland’s game at Detroit will be played March 6 instead ofMarch 7.

The Wizards’makeup game at Detroit is set for March 7.