Giannis leads Bucks over Thunder as 76ers beat Harden's Clippers

LOS ANGELES: Giannis Antetokounmpo sparked the Milwaukee Bucks over Oklahoma City in a Sunday (Mar 24) showdown of NBA contenders while James Harden lost his first meeting with Philadelphia since the 76ers traded him.

Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and grabbed a season-high 19 rebounds to lead Milwaukee over visiting Oklahoma 118-93.

Khris Middleton added his second career triple-double - and first since 2018 - with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Bucks, whose defensive effort kept the Thunder to a season-low point production on 37.1 per cent shooting.

"It was cool," Middleton said of his rare feet. "My teammates were knocking down a lot of shots for me. It was a good win against a good team. But we've got to keep building on this for the rest of the season."

Oklahoma City fell to 49-21, tumbling a half-game behind Denver for the Western Conference lead and a half-game ahead of third-place Minnesota.

Milwaukee improved to 46-25, second in the Eastern Conference by three games over Cleveland.

Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored only 12 points, his second-worst game total of the season. It snapped a 29-game run of at least 20 points a game for the NBA's number two overall scorer, who is just ahead of Antetokounmpo.

"They were firing on all cylinders," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "They have guys who have won a lot in this league. We had a chance to see where we stack up against that. Didn't go our way, how we wanted to perform, but a lot of lessons learned."

The Bucks outscored the Thunder 34-17 in the third quarter to pull away for good and opened the fourth on a 10-3 run to seal Oklahoma City's fate.

"It was our most connected game," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "We were so physical. You could see it.