Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks piled more road misery on NBA champions Golden State on Tuesday, thumping the Warriors 128-111.
The Warriors, coming off a convincing victory over the league-leading Boston Celtics in San Francisco, were hoping this trip would signal a reversal of their road fortunes.
Instead they fell to 2-12 away from home, 14-14 overall, in a testy encounter between the last two NBA champions that saw the frustrated Warriors assessed five technical fouls.
Three of those came in the first quarter, when Stephen Curry was furious at the lack of a foul call when he was shooting a three-pointer and head coach Steve Kerr continued the argument to earn a “T”.
“I was already mad at several non-calls in the paint,” Kerr said. “I felt like we were on the bad end of things to start the game. And then Steph Curry gets hit on the head on a three-point shot.
“That needs to be called,” Kerr said, adding that Curry’s unusual intense reaction was indication enough that a foul occurred.
“If Steph gets a technical, he definitely got fouled,” Kerr said.
Trailing by 14 early in the second quarter, the Warriors pulled within six before the Bucks closed the first half on a 6-0 scoring run on the way to a 12-point halftime lead.
The third quarter brought no relief, the Bucks jumping to a 26-point lead midway through the period.
Milwaukee, led by 30 points and 12 rebounds from Antetokounmpo, out-scored the Warriors 48-30 in the paint and had 16 fastbreak points to the Warriors’ seven.
They out-rebounded the Warriors 55-37, and with the game out of hand Warriors coach Steve Kerr pulled his starters, no doubt hoping the rest will help when they tackle the Pacers in Indianapolis on Wednesday.
Bobby Portis added 25 points off the bench and Khris Middleton added 20 points for Milwaukee, who improved to 20-7 and inched closer to Boston atop the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics were taking on the Lakers later in Los Angeles, hoping to find their offensive spark after back-to-back losses at Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers dropped their league-best record to 21-7.
Against the Clippers on Monday the Celtics, who have been an offensive juggernaut, were held to 93 points.
Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both said that they were perhaps “too tense” in those games.
“We didn’t have fun,” Tatum said after the loss to the Clippers. “We didn’t have fun against Golden State. Whether it’s fatigue or whatever it is, maybe playing a little too tense.”
Embiid powers 76ers
In other early games, Joel Embiid scored 31 points and James Harden and Tobias Harris added 21 apiece as the 76ers thumped the Sacramento Kings 123-103 in Philadelphia.
The 76ers took control with 80 points in the first half. They led by 25 at the interval and were never threatened in the second half.
Two nights after his 53-point outburst in a win against Charlotte, Embiid connected on 10 of 16 shots from the floor to lead the Sixers to their third straight victory.
It was an emotional night in Houston, where head coach Stephen Silas returned the sideline two days after the death of his father, three-time NBA champion and longtime NBA coach Paul Silas.
The Rockets handed the reeling Phoenix Suns a fifth straight defeat, 111-97.