Nigerian-born basketball star, Giannis Antetokounmpo was again at his very best for Milwaukee Bucks in USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA) league, as he led his side to victory against Houston Rockets.
Sports247.ng reports that Antetokounmpo hit 27 points and a season-high 21 rebounds to help The Bucks withstand a 42-point performance from James Harden and beat Houston 116-109.
In a match-up of the two front-runners for MVP, Harden and his team-mates were done in by a shooting slump late in the third quarter that spilled into the fourth and left them down by 15 points.
With Antetokounmpo going at full throttle, Milwaukee held a 13-point lead with about five minutes left before Houston used a 8-0 run, started by two 3-pointers from Harden, to cut it to 107-102.
The Bucks got a layup from Eric Bledsoe before Harden scored the next four points to get Houston to 109-106 with two-and-a-half minutes left.
Antetokounmpo made one of two free throws to push Milwaukee’s lead to four points with about 90 seconds left.
Harden missed his third straight 3-pointer before Antetokounmpo, who plays for Greece, added a layup on the other end to make it 112-106 with 40 seconds remaining.
Harden missed another three seconds later and Bucks added four free throws down the stretch to secure the their seventh win in eight games.
It was Harden’s sixth 40-point outing in eight games and he has scored 30 or more points in 14 straight games, which is the longest streak since Tracy McGrady did it in 2003.
