CHICAGO – The Milwaukee Bucks matched the longest winning streak of the regular season this year in the NBA by winning their 12th straight, 112-100 over Chicago on Thursday night. Brooklyn won a dozen in a row from Dec. 7-Jan.2.
The 12 consecutive wins matches a streak by the 1981-82 team, which is the sixth-longest in franchise history. The club record is 20, set in 1971. The longest in the Mike Budenholzer era is 18, set in 2019.
The Bucks head into the All-Star break with a 41-17 record while the Bulls dropped to 26-33 and have now lost six straight.
Early in the second quarter Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo tried to recover and challenge a drive by Bulls guard Coby White, and as White missed his altered layup attempt the pair went tumbling to the court. White hit the floor, but Antetokounmpo’s momentum carried him into the stanchion under the basket. He put out his right hand to prevent a full collision with the object but it appeared like his hand got caught in the padding around it. He immediately grabbed his hand in obvious pain, though he did get up and stayed in the game to finish out the possession.
He continued to flex his hand and was subbed out. He met briefly with head athletic trainer Scott Faust on the Bucks bench and pointed to the stanchion before the pair went to the locker room.
Antetokounmpo was ruled out for the game with a right wrist sprain with 3:10 to go in the first half.
“I think the initial reports were hopeful,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “The X-ray was clean and he’s got a sprain. We’ll just, I think, see how he feels tomorrow, see how he feels the next few days and continue to evaluate it.”
Antetokounmpo exited the game after nine minutes of action with two points on 1 of 4 shooting. He also had seven rebounds and three assists.
“He’s a guy that is attacking the basket all the time and he’s fearless and he takes a lot of falls so you kind of learn to just expect him to always bounce back up and that’s what we’re hoping from for this one,” Budenholzer said.
As for Antetokounmpo’s participation in All-Star Weekend festivities, Budenholzer said, “I have no idea.”
Antetokounmpo was not available for comment.
“I think he’s all right,” Jrue Holiday said. “We’ve seen him be hurt a little bit worse than that and went and had 40, 40, 40, 50 and 50 in the Finals.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo breaks Bucks’ assist record
Jevon Carter filled the wing to Antetokounmpo’s right with just under seven minutes to go in the first quarter, and as the Bulls closed in he slung the ball out to his teammate – who spotted up and drilled a 3-pointer.
It was history, again, for the Bucks superstar as he passed Paul Pressey as the top playmaker in franchise history. Antetokounmpo exited the game with three assists, giving him 3,274 for his career to date.
“I wasn’t here long enough,” Holiday joked. “No, no, no. I mean, it’s greatness, right? It’s elite. Especially to do it with one franchise. To be here through the ups and the downs, to see where he started and then where he is now, so happy for him.”
It took Pressey eight seasons (1982-1990) and 580 games to set his previous club record of 3,272 assists. Pressey averaged 5.6 assists per game in his Bucks tenure.
Antetokounmpo played in his 703rd game for the Bucks on Thursday and is in his 10th season. He has a career average of 4.7 assists per game, but has averaged 5.5 per game since blossoming into an All-Star in 2016-17. And, of course, the two-time league MVP has been one of the most dynamic scorers in the NBA in that time as well.
Pressey and Antetokounmpo are the only two players in Bucks history to record at least 3,000 assists.
Antetokounmpo now owns the following franchise records:
-
Minutes played
-
Points
-
Free throws
-
Free throw attempts
-
Defensive rebounds
-
Assists
-
Blocks
-
Turnovers
-
Triple-doubles
Antetokounmpo will break Junior Bridgeman’s record for most games played (711) once he appears in nine more after the All-Star break.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo injures wrist in win vs. Bulls
