Giannis Antetokounmpo —50 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists— was once again the leader of the Bucks who crushed the New Orleans Pelicans 135-110 and achieved their fourth consecutive victory. Those from Louisiana, for their part, conceded their eighth defeat in a row and could not count on Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum.
The Greek, chosen this week as captain in the All-Star along with LeBron James, got his second best score of the course after the 55 points he obtained on January 3 against the Washington Wizards.
For the Pelicans, Puerto Rican José Alvarado was the top scorer with 18 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. The Spanish Willy Hernangómez had no minutes.
The Milwaukee Bucks will face the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday while the New Orleans team will have a very difficult game that day in Denver against the leaders of the West, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets.
In another of the games of the day, Ja Morant's Memphis Grizzlies returned to the path of victory and left behind their five consecutive defeats, beating the Indiana Pacers (112-100) who have only achieved one victory in their last 11 meetings.
Thanks to the work of Ja Morant (27 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists) and a solid last quarter by the team (32-21), the Grizzlies outperformed their rival. The Spanish Santi Aldama added 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
The Cleveland Cavaliers for their part, led by the Turkish Cedi Osman, overwhelmed the Clippers (122-99), who broke their streak of five consecutive victories. Osman matched his scoring record with 29 points and ranked sixth in franchise all-time three-pointers.
The Spanish Ricky Rubio played 19 minutes in which he made a triple and added 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
The other game of the day was played by the Charlotte Hornets and the Miami Heat, in a more even match than the previous ones. Those of North Carolina took the victory by 122-117.
