PLAYING without their top six scorers, including reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokuonmpo, who was out with a knee injury for a second straight game, the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks (53-12) dropped a 109-95 road decision to the Denver Nuggets and suffered their first three-game losing streak of the season.
The Los Angeles Lakers, who beat the Bucks last Saturday (Manila time), had closed in on the Bucks for the best record in the league at 49-13 but had a letdown yesterday, losing, 104-102, to the Brooklyn Nets on a three-point miss by Anthony Davis at the game buzzer in the first of three straight assignments at the Staples Center to fall to 49-14.
Antetokuonmpo remains the favorite to capture his second Maurice Podoloff Trophy that goes to the NBA MVP although the LA Lakers’ LeBron James can upset the odds following his team’s “statement weekend” March 7-9 (Manila time) that saw the club defeat the Bucks and the LA Clippers in consecutive games.
It was the first time that the Lakers had beaten two of the top four NBA teams in back-to-back games since February 2009 when they whipped the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers. El-Ay went on to win the NBA title that year.
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He is not even a household name so much so you might not have known that he is a teammate of Antetokuonmpo with the Milwaukee Bucks and is the Greek Freak’s bookend forward sidekick.
The name: James Khristian (Khris) Middleton, a 6-foot-7, 29-year-old forward who is in his eighth year in the pro league.
He was a second-round draft choice of the Detroit Pistons in 2012 out of Texas A&M. After spending his rookie season with the Motor City squad, Middleton was shipped to Milwaukee in a July 2013 trade and has since toiled in Brew City.
Last January 28, Middleton registered a career-high 51 points on 16-for-26 field shooting and collected 10 rebounds and six assists on a night the Bucks beat the visiting Washington Wizards, 151-131, without an injured Antetokuonmpo (right shoulder soreness).
The Charlestown, South Carolina native thus joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Antetokuonmpo as the only players in the Bucks’ 52-year existence (since 1968-69) with 50 points and 10 boards in a game.
Days later, Middleton was voted by the league’s head coaches as a reserve in the All-Star Game in Chicago last February 16. It was his second straight All-Star appearance, having been also a sub a year ago as the first player in NBA G League history to suit up in the midseason showcase.
This year, he was on the Team Giannis unit that dropped a 157-155 decision to Team LeBron.
Heading into tomorrow’s home date (MT) against Boston, Middleton is averaging 21.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 55 games with the Bucks.
With that, Middleton has become a part of some of the most interesting narratives in the NBA.
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LA Lakers frontliner Anthony Davis marks his 27th birthday on March 11 (March 12, Manila time).
Did you know that two years ago on his 25th birthday, the University of Kentucky alum registered his first-ever NBA triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and a career-best 10 blocked shots for the New Orleans Pelicans, his previous employers before being shipped to the Lakers last June?
It wasn’t a happy birthday as the Pelicans suffered a 116-99 setback to the visiting Utah Jazz.
Davis was the first NBA player ever to register a T-D with blocks on a birthday since blocked shots (and steals) became an official statistic starting the 1973-74 season.
Until now, Davis’ 10 blocks remains an all-time single-game record in New Orleans franchise history.
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