San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green, left, drives to the basket against Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton, right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, March 18, 2015 in Milwaukee. The Spurs beat the Bucks 114-103. AP
MILWAUKEE–NBA champions San Antonio bounced back from an embarrassing defeat with a 114-103 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday (US time).
Danny Green scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Spurs, while Tim Duncan chipped in 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds and Boris Diaw added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The victory followed San Antonio’s 104-100 overtime loss to the lowly Knicks in New York on Tuesday.
San Antonio had all of their stars in the lineup, but shot just 38.3 percent from the floor at Madison Square Garden in a contest in which coach Gregg Popovich said his team “didn’t respect the game.”
“Coach Pop” might have been happier on Wednesday, with six of his players scoring in double figures.
Tony Parker contributed 15, Kawhi Leonard had 14 and Marco Belinelli chipped in 11 off the bench as the Spurs connected on 50 percent of their shots from the floor.
They also made 30 of 38 free-throw attempts and out-scored the slumping Bucks 50-36 in the paint.
The Spurs, who trailed 28-27 after the first quarter, began to pull away late in the second quarter.
After a Michael Carter-Williams reverse layup pulled Milwaukee 51-49 with 3:04 left in the first half, the Spurs scored eight straight points to take their first double-digit lead of the contest.
The Spurs led 63-54 at the break and were up by as many as 19.
They led 91-80 going into the final frame and the Bucks never got the deficit below nine points from there.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 19 points and eight rebounds.
But Milwaukee’s fourth straight defeat saw their lead over seventh-placed Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference standings cut to two and a half games.
Dwyane Wade scored 32 points and handed out six assists for the Heat who overcame an 11-point deficit en route to a 108-104 victory over Portland on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Boston and Indiana, jockeying with Miami for the last two playoff spots in the East, both lost.
Russell Westbrook scored 36 points to lead Oklahoma City to a 122-118 victory over the Celtics, while Chicago beat Indiana 103-86.