National Basketball Association
Milwaukee 103, Charlotte 94
When: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, October 23, 2017
Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Officials: #20 Leroy Richardson, #19 James Capers, #46 Ben Taylor
Attendance: 12887

MILWAUKEE -- Maybe the Milwaukee Bucks aren't a one-man-show after all.

Giannis Antetokounmpo surpassed the 30-point mark again Monday night, but the Bucks also got a 20-point breakout performance from Khris Middleton and five 3-pointers from Mirza Teletovic as they held off the Charlotte Hornets for a 103-94 victory at the Bradley Center.

"We have trust in everybody," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "No matter how the game might start or how the game is going, we believe guys are going to do what they have done and what they have worked on.

"Khris made some big plays for us down the stretch. You can see the guys growing up in front of us."

Antetokounmpo led the Bucks (3-1) with 32 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the floor. He added 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots while committing six turnovers.

He has scored 147 points through Milwaukee's first four games this season, giving him a league-leading average of 36.8 per game and moving him past Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 146 to open the 1972-73 season, for most points through four games in franchise history.

Middleton struggled to find his shot through Milwaukee's first three games. He then missed his first four 3-point attempts against the Hornets but finally hit one with under a minute to play, giving the Bucks a much-needed cushion for the final moments.

"It felt good," said Middleton, who had made only 1 of 15 attempts this season before hitting his shot Monday night. "With these slumps, I've just got to keep shooting and work through it. All of the shots felt pretty good, they just didn't drop. I just have to keep shooting with confidence."

Frank Kaminsky hit three of his four 3-point attempts and led Charlotte (1-2) with 18 points off the bench. Jeremy Lamb added 17, and Kemba Walker and former Bucks player Johnny O'Bryant finished with 15 and 14, respectively.

Charlotte shot 42.3 percent from the floor and 7 of 21 from long distance but struggled at the free-throw line, making only 21 of 36 despite getting 20 more attempts than Milwaukee.

"Tonight, when the ball moved, we got great shots," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "This isn't an (isolated ball movement) team, that's not our team. It has to be screen, move it, hand off, flash move it. We're either going to get that or hold people to 95, which is tough to do now."

Charlotte center Dwight Howard grabbed a game-high 22 rebounds but only scored eight points and went 0 of 9 from the free-throw line.

"We lost a tough one," Howard said. "I thought we had this game. We did some really good things at times on the floor. We'll be fine. We just need to stick together, stay locked in on what the goal is, and keep going."

Down one at halftime, Milwaukee knocked down five 3-pointers in the third quarter, with Teletovic responsible for three of them. The Bucks also went 5 of 5 from the free-throw line to take an 83-77 lead into the fourth quarter.

Kaminsky tied the score at 94 on a 3-pointer with 3:05 to play. Milwaukee came up empty on its next two possessions, but Middleton came up with a block of Marvin Williams and Antetokounmpo sank two free throws to put the Bucks up 96-94 with 94 seconds to play.

Middleton connected from the top of the key with 43.5 seconds left, extending the lead to five. Thon Maker hit two free throws with 16 seconds left to close out Milwaukee's third victory of the season.

"That was a good play by Khris," Antetokounmpo said. "He's a competition. He wanted win as bad as everybody else. He made big plays for our team and helped us get the win."

NOTES: Milwaukee was without PG Malcolm Brogdon, who sprained an ankle in the Bucks' 113-110 victory over Portland on Saturday. Brogdon started Milwaukee's first three games this season, averaging 16.0 points on 47.2 percent shooting with 3.7 assists. ... Charlotte C Cody Zeller missed his second straight game because of right knee bone bruise. The Hornets were also without F/G Nicolas Batum (sprained left elbow), G Julyan Stone (hamstring) and PG Michael Carter-Williams (knee). ... Bucks F Giannis Antetokounmpo was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the third time in his career on Monday after averaging a league-best 38.3 points on 67 percent shooting from the field with 9.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.7 blocks and a steal in his first three games.
Top Game Performances
 
Charlotte   Milwaukee
Frank Kaminsky 18 Scoring Giannis Antetokounmpo 32
Kemba Walker 6 Assists Matthew Dellavedova 9
Dwight Howard 22 Rebounds Giannis Antetokounmpo 14
Jeremy Lamb 6 Free Throws Made Giannis Antetokounmpo 6
Marvin Williams 2 Steals Thon Maker 3
Dwight Howard 4 Blocks Giannis Antetokounmpo 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Charlotte 94 42.3 7-26 21-36 17 48 5 3 14
Milwaukee 103 47.1 9-26 14-16 24 42 4 8 13
Upcoming Games
  • Milwaukee will play their next game at home against Boston. The Bucks have a W/L % of .667 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Charlotte will play their next game at home against Denver. The Hornets have a W/L % of .000 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.