NBA: Bucks crush Warriors’ record dream
Greg Monroe helped the Milwaukee Bucks take down the league-leading Golden State Warriors with a double-double. AP
LOS ANGELES, United States — Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his first career triple-double and the Milwaukee Bucks ended the Golden State Warriors’ record run, 108-95, Saturday (Manila time).
The Warriors lost for the first time after starting the season at 24-0.
The stunning defeat came at the end of a grueling seven-game road trip for the weary Warriors, who needed a double overtime marathon to beat the Boston Celtics on Friday and extend the streak to 28 straight regular season wins dating back to last season.
“The losses are going to come. We didn’t have it tonight,” said Warriors coach Luke Walton. “We turned the ball over too many times tonight.
“Losing sucks even if you are 24-1.”
The Warriors fell just five wins shy of equaling the NBA all-time record of 33 straight victories set by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1971-72 season.
Golden States’ win streak stands as the second longest in league history and the longest to start a season. It has been 2 1/2 weeks since they set the record for the best start in history at 16-0.
Reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry paced the Warriors’ attack with a team high 28 points in front of a crowd of 18,700 at Bradley Center arena.
Both clubs were playing the back end of consecutive Friday-Saturday contests.
But the Bucks were able to battle through the fatigue better than Golden State, who were hoping to become the first NBA team to sweep a seven-game road trip.
Golden State knew it wouldn’t be easy as they were coming off their most trying contest of the season, a hard-fought 124-119 win over the Celtics in Boston.
Center Greg Monroe tallied 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks, who looked surprisingly fresh after losing 90-83 in Toronto on Friday.
“We wanted to come out with a lot of effort and energy,” said Monroe. “We were at home, a packed house. It was a great opportunity for us.”
Milwaukee will have Sunday and Monday off before beginning a four-games-in-six-days trip that includes a visit to Golden State next Friday.
