Bobby Portis of the Milwaukee Bucks drives to the basket against Darius Bazley of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of a game at Fiserv Forum on November 05, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Getty Images via AFP)
LOS ANGELES -The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t miss a beat with two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined for the first time this season, pushing their record to 9-0 Saturday with a 108-94 victory over Oklahoma City.
Antetokounmpo was listed as out with left knee soreness a night after he posted his first triple-double of the season in a victory at Minnesota.
Brook Lopez helped fill the void with 25 points as the Bucks improved on their already best-ever start to the season.
Elsewhere, there were overtime wins for the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings, and the Boston Celtics set a franchise record with 27 three-pointers with a 133-118 victory over the New York Knicks.
In Milwaukee, Lopez connected on 10 of 16 shots from the floor to pace the Bucks, who had 17 three-pointers.
Bobby Portis and Jrue Holiday both posted double-doubles and the Bucks led by as many as 24.
De’Aaron Fox was the hero in Orlando, draining a three-pointer from near half-court as time expired to lift the Kings to a 126-123 overtime victory over the Magic in Orlando.
Fox scored a game-high 37 points. That included the first six in overtime, but they were tied 123-123 with 2.5 seconds left in the extra session after Orlando’s Chume Okeke seized upon a Kings turnover and drove for a dunk.
“I just tried to get as in front of the basket as I possibly could, and just tried to get it up,” Fox said. “It felt good, and it went in.”
The Kings had out-scored the Magic 36-12 to erase a 20-point third-quarter deficit. They traded the lead five times in the fourth, with Fox’s bank shot tying it up in the final second.
Kings coach Mike Brown said the final play of overtime was Fox doing “what he does” taking the ball from teammate Harrison Barnes with the clock ticking down and no timeouts left and racing up the floor.
“His super-power is his speed,” Brown said. “He got that ball up the floor … he pulled up and hit a big shot for us to win the game.”
Sensational rookie Paolo Banchero led the Magic with 33 points and 15 rebounds.
The 19-year-old connected on 14 of 26 from the field and joined LeBron James as the only teenagers to record at least 30 points and 15 rebounds in an NBA game.
In Atlanta, Trae Young scored 34 points to lead five Hawks players in double figures in a 124-121 overtime victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum scored 29 points apiece for the Pelicans, who have dropped three overtime decisions in the first three weeks of the season.
Long-range barrage
In New York, Jaylen Brown scored 30 points and Jayson Tatum added 26 for the Celtics, who buried the Knicks with a long-range barrage.
Brown and Tatum had half a dozen three-pointers each and reserve guard Sam Hauser had five as all nine Celtics who played connected from beyond the arc.
Elsewhere, the New Jersey Nets notched a second straight win since star Kyrie Irving was suspended, rallying from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Hornets 98-94 in Charlotte.
Kevin Durant scored 27 points, Cam Thomas added 21 and Nic Claxton chipped in 11 as the Nets overcame early offensive struggles with a late surge.
Durant keyed a 12-0 Nets run in the fourth and Brooklyn grabbed their fourth win of the season in a tumultuous week that saw them part ways with head coach Steve Nash and suspend Irving for at least five games after he posted a social media link to a film widely condemned as anti-Semitic.