Giannis, Bucks on a roll

THE Milwaukee Bucks finished the month of February with a 10-2 record.
Bucks franchise maker Giannis Antetokuonmpo became the second player in NBA history to average 25 points and 15 rebounds for a month without losing a single game he played, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who turned in the trick in March 1973 while with the Bucks.
In the Bucks’ final game in February, a 133-86 rout of the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder last February 28, the Greek Freak scored 32 points in just over 27 minutes and had a plus-minus rating of +44, which was not only a career high but also the highest by any player to log fewer than 30 minutes and attempt 20 shots in a game over the last 15 seasons.
Additionally, Antetokuonmpo extended his total to nine games of tallying 30 or more points in just under 30 minutes in a single campaign, the most in the 24-second shot clock era since the rule was instituted in 1954-55.
Following a productive February, Antetokuonmpo, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, opened March hostilities yesterday with a brilliant 41-point, 20-rebound, 6-assist effort in 35 minutes as the Bucks registered a 93-85 road verdict over the Charlotte Hornets to bring their record to 52-8 with a sixth straight victory. It was the first 40-20 game in the 6-foot-11 forward’s seven-year NBA career.
Additionally, it was the fewest minutes played in a 40-20-5 game in NBA history, surpassing the previous low of 36 minutes by Bob Pettit of the St. Louis (now Atlanta) Hawks in 1959 and Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis (now Los Angeles Lakers) in 1960.
Antetokuonmpo became the first Bucks player to record a 40-20-5 stats line since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in March 1974. Over the past 30 seasons, he is only the third player to turn in the trick, joining DeMarcus Cousins (twice) and Chris Webber.
At 25 years and 86 days, the Athens-born Antetokuonmpo of Nigerian descent is the youngest player with a 40-20-5 game since Charles Barkley accomplished the feat with the Philadelphia 76ers on January 30, 1987 at 23 years, 344 days old.
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After disposing of the visiting Oklahoma Thunder, 133-86, with the 47-point winning margin being the largest by a Thunder opponent this season, last February 28, the Milwaukee Bucks improved to a NBA-leading 51-8 record and lifted their average winning margin to a league record-pacing 12.8 points per game (120.0/107.2).
The Bucks, who hope to join the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73-9) as the only team in league history to go through an entire season without back-to-back losses, are on pace to post the highest point differential in a single season ever that is currently owned by the 1971-72 LA Lakers (69-13) at 12.3 ppg (121.0/108.7).
The 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, powered by Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Oscar Robertson, have the second-highest differential at 12.2 ppg (118.4/106.2) in registering a 66-16 ledger.
For the record, the 2015-16 Warriors only had a 10.76 winning point differential (sixth-highest in NBA annals) during their record-setting 73-9 finish.
In fact, the 2016-17 Golden State unit which finished “only” 67-15 during the regular wars but went on to post the highest winning percentage in a single season in NBA playoff history at 16-1 (including 15-0 to start the postseason), had a larger winning point differential at 11.63 ppg, fourth-highest ever.
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Enigmatic Houston All-Star guard Russell Westbrook drilled in 41 points as the visiting Rockets scored a 111-110 overtime decision over the Boston Celtics last February 29.
Westbrook has netted at least 20 points in 30 straight games, joining Rockets mate James Harden, who earlier this season owned a 34-game streak of 20 points or more.
Westbrook and Harden are the first set of teammates to have 20-points in 30 or more consecutive games in a row since Jerry West and Elgin Baylor accomplished the feat with the LA Lakers during the 1961-62 campaign.
The Rockets, ranked fourth in the Western Conference with a 39-20 record, play the woeful New York Knicks on Tuesday, March 3 (Manila time), seeking for a seventh straight victory.
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After dropping a disappointing 105-88 road verdict to the Memphis Grizzlies the previous day, the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers (46-13) completed a four-game season-series sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans with yesterday’s hard-earned 122-114 victory at the Smoothie King Center as LeBron James, playing harder offensively with his No. 1 sidekick Anthony Davis sidelined by an injury (or was it load management?), collected 34 points (14-21 FGA), 12 rebounds and 13 assists for his 13th triple-double of the season, tying him with Dallas’ Luka Doncic for the NBA leadership. (Denver’s Nikola Jokic ranks third with 12 T-Ds.)
Now 30-3 against below .500 teams, the Lakers are 19-0 when James scores 30 points or more.
Electrifying rookie Zion Williamson drilled in a career-high 35 points for the 26-34 Pelicans on 12-of-16 field shooting, extending his NBA record of consecutive 20-point games to 11 and earning the distinction as the first teenager in NBA history to accomplish the feat two days earlier.
In 15 games so far, he has failed to reach 20 points in a single game just twice.
Last February 25, James also tallied a season-high 40 points as the Lakers whipped the Pelicans, 118-109, at the Staples Center. Williamson chalked up 29 points in his first career showdown with James and Davis, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in New Orleans franchise history before his trade to the Lakers last June.
Measured officially by the NBA at 6-foot-6, the bull-shouldered Williamson was still injured in the team’s first two games against the Lakers after undergoing right knee surgery last October 21 or just a day before the start of the 2019-20 wars.
A one year-and-done product of Duke University, Zion was selected No. 1 overall in the 2019 NBA draft last June but he did not make his pro debut until last January 22 against San Antonio.
The 19-year-old Williamson, whose previous career high was 32 points during a 123-118 home loss to Oklahoma City last February 13, amassed 24 points in a 116-104 triumph over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers last February 28 to become the first teenager in NBA history to tally 10 consecutive 20-point games.
Carmelo Anthony, now in his first season with the Portland Trail Blazers, previously held the distinction, scoring at least 20 points in nine straight appearances at 19 when he was an NBA rookie with the Denver Nuggets.
Williamson, who will turn 20 only on July 6, is also just the fourth freshman in league annals to own a 10-game streak of scoring at least 20 points, joining Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and injury-prone but well-paid Blake Griffin, then with the Los Angeles Clippers but now with the Detroit Pistons. (Griffin underwent surgery on his left knee twice, the last on January 7, and is expected to be sidelined for the rest of the ongoing season after playing just 18 games.)