NBA News Wire
NBA roundup: Bucks end 17-game skid in Orlando
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
ORLANDO, Fla. — Reserve guard Jerryd Bayless scored 19 points in 20 minutes, leading the well-balanced Milwaukee Bucks to a 115-100 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night at the Amway Center.
The Bucks had seven players score in double figures while snapping a 17-game losing streak in Orlando. The Magic lost their seventh consecutive game.
Bucks forward Jared Dudley and guard Khris Middleton had 17 points apiece. Guard Brandon Knight had 16 points and nine assists, and guard O.J. Mayo scored 13. Center John Henson, in his first start of the season, finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Giannis Antetokounmpo contributed 10 points.
Magic guard Victor Oladipo had 21 points and five rebounds, and center Nikola Vucevic added 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Reserve guard Willie Green scored 16 points, point guard Elfrid Payton added 15 and guard Evan Fournier had 11.
The Bucks, who were without three key frontcourt players, never trailed. The Magic never got closer than 11 points in the second half.
Pacers 103, Knicks 82
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana, which lost its three most recent home games, scored a combined 67 points during the second and third quarters against New York at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The Pacers made 14 of 23 shots from the field in the second quarter and 15 of 23 in the third, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range, to outscore the Knicks by 35 during that 24-minute window.
Guard Rodney Stuckey led Indiana with 22 points and center Roy Hibbert added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Carmelo Anthony had 18 points and forward Lou Amundson added 17 for the Knicks, who are an NBA-worst 3-21 on the road.
The Pacers blew the game open by sinking 10 of their first 11 shots from the field in the third quarter, including five by Hibbert, while extending a five-point halftime lead to 76-56 with 6:36 remaining in the quarter.
Grizzlies 99, Nuggets 69
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Forward Zach Randolph posted his 11th straight double-double with 15 points and 17 rebounds to lead Memphis to its ninth win in 10 games and seventh at home in the past eight.
Randolph, averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds since returning Jan. 9 from a right knee injury, did not play in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies were able to rest their starters with a 25-point lead.
Memphis forward Jeff Green added 13 points and guards Courtney Lee and Beno Udrih had 11 each. The Grizzlies are 7-1 since acquiring Green in a three-team trade with Boston and New Orleans three weeks ago and 5-0 since moving him into the starting lineup.
Denver, which lost for the eighth time in nine games, was 2 of 26 from beyond the arc. Forwards Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried had 10 points each to lead the Nuggets.
