Giannis, Bogdanovic dominant in wins

By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net

Giannis Antetokounmpo notched his third triple-double of the season by scoring 22 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists in 26 minutes as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the New York Knicks 123 – 102 to remain the team with the best record (26-4) in the NBA.

Another Antetokounmpo delivered possibly the highlight of the game. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, a former Knicks, threw down a putback dunk in the fourth quarter that lifted his teammates from their seats at the bench.

Thanasis finished with four points while Turkish forward Ersan Ilyasova scored 10 in 19 minutes for the Bucks. From the Knicks, French guard Frank Ntilikina had four points in 10 minutes off the bench.

In Charlotte, the Utah Jazz‘s European duo of Croatian forward Bojan Bogdanovic and French center Rudy Gobert pushed their team towards a 114 – 107 win over the Hornets.

Bogdanovic had 26 points on 4/9 3-pointers while Gobert posted a double-double of 17 points and a season-high-tying 19 rebounds.

Despite playing 30 minutes with the Hornets, French wing Nicolas Batum took just four shots and made two of them to finish with five points.

Another European player had a powerful double-double to help his team get a victory. Swiss center Clint Capela put up 14 points and 17 rebounds in the Houston Rockets‘ 139 – 125 win over the Phoenix Suns.

Elie Okobo was a starter for Phoenix in light of Ricky and finished with a season-high 17 points. The French guard played a season-top 30 minutes in light of Ricky Rubio’s absence due to illness.

Croatian forward Dario Saric had 19 points and five rebounds for the Suns.

Ukrainian center Alex Len tallied season-highs in points (23) and rebounds (14) in the Atlanta Hawks‘ 112 – 122 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Latvian forward Rodions Kurucs had six points for the winning side.

The rest of Saturday’s (21/12) results and Euro scorers:

Philadelphia 76ers – Washington Wizards 125 – 108 (Anzejs Pasecniks 11 points, Davis Bertans nine points, Ian Mahinmi seven points – eight rebounds, Furkan Korkmaz six points)

Detroit Pistons – Chicago Bulls 107 – 119 (Tomas Satoransky 16 points, eight rebounds, sive assists – Lauri Markkanen 15 points, seven rebounds, Svi Mykhailiuk four points)

Memphis Grizzlies – Sacramento Kings 119 – 115 (Nemanja Bjelica 15 points)

San Antonio – Los Angeles Clippers 109 – 134 (Ivica Zubac 15 points, five rebounds – Jakob Poetl six points, five rebounds)

Portland Trail Blazers – Minnesota Timberwolves 113 – 106

Standings (via NBA.com)