Gardner: This week in the NBA
TOP BUCKS PLAYER
Giannis Antetokounmpo just keeps filling up the stat sheet. He led the Bucks to three victories while averaging 25.7 points and 9.7 rebounds. Antetokounmpo scored 24 points and had eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks at Philadelphia on Monday. He followed that with a 32-point, 13-rebound, seven-assist, four-steal, two-block performance in a 104-93 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Antetokounmpo now has 15 games of 30-plus points this season, the most by a Bucks player since Michael Redd did it in the 2006-’07 season. The Greek Freak had a career-high-tying five steals and 21 points against Indiana on Friday.
BUCKS LOOK AHEAD
Milwaukee opens a crucial six-game trip, the team’s longest of the season, on Monday night in Memphis. Then the Bucks will head west, staying in Los Angeles for four days and playing the Clippers on Wednesday and the Lakers on Friday at the Staples Center. The Bucks have a Saturday night date in Oakland against Golden State with the Warriors trying to right themselves after losing Kevin Durant to a knee injury.
BUCKS QUOTE
Jabari Parker, discussing his second anterior cruciate ligament tear and his future with reporters Thursday: "I don't want to be the same player. I wouldn't be myself if I don't challenge myself to do better things, bigger things. I know I can be better."
TOP NBA PLAYER
Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki became only the sixth player in NBA history to reach the 30,000-point mark when he hit a baseline jumper early in the second quarter Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Nowitzki joined elite company that includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Bucks coach Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, both former teammates of Nowitzki’s, recorded messages for Facebook Live that kidded Dirk for being a “ballhog.” Nowitzki said he celebrated by drinking a Bud Light, and Anheuser-Busch responded by delivering 30,000 Bud Lights to American Airlines Arena. The company gave away free beers to fans attending the Mavericks’ game against Brooklyn on Friday.
TOP NBA TEAM
Washington moved into second place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 130-122 overtime victory in Sacramento on Friday night. Bradley Beal led the Wizards’ comeback from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit as he scored 38 points, including 21 in the final quarter and overtime. The Wizards won for the ninth time in their last 10 road games and improved to 25-8 since Jan. 1, the second-best mark in the league over that stretch. Earlier in the week they won at Denver and at Phoenix. Newcomer Bojan Bogdanovic had 29 points against the Suns in a 131-127 victory.
NBA QUOTE
Golden State forward Draymond Green, holding his tongue about the officiating in his team’s 103-102 loss at Minnesota on Friday: “I thought about taking a fine tonight. I really did. I truly thought about taking a fine tonight. But I'm not wasting my $25,000."
NBA RANKINGS (through Friday’s games)
Top 10: 1. San Antonio, 2. Golden State, 3. Houston, 4. Cleveland, 5. Washington, 6. Utah, 7. Boston, 8. Toronto, 9. Los Angeles Clippers, 10. Atlanta.
Middle 10: 11. Oklahoma City, 12. Memphis, 13. Indiana, 14. Milwaukee, 15. Miami, 16. Denver, 17. Detroit, 18. Minnesota, 19. Dallas, 20. Chicago.
Bottom 10: 21. Portland, 22. Charlotte, 23. New York, 24. New Orleans, 25. Orlando, 26. Philadelphia, 27. Sacramento, 28. Los Angeles Lakers, 29. Phoenix, 30. Brooklyn.
ONE MAN'S OPINION
It had to be crushing for Jabari Parker to injure his left leg again.
A second anterior cruciate ligament tear raises questions about whether the young Bucks forward can come back to the form he showed this season.
Parker faced reporters Thursday and said he can come back stronger. He will not turn 22 years old until Wednesday, and the Bucks training staff believes he can do it.
The Chicago native is well aware of the difficult rehab he faces when he gets off his crutches and begins that work. He did it once before and the journey took him to the mountains of Peru, where he hiked and sweated while testing his limits.
Parker said he will schedule another trip to challenge himself in the next 12 months but does not know where it will be yet.
Parker is not giving up despite the latest setback and has relied on teammates, family and his faith to sustain him.
“At the end of the day, it makes my story worth telling,” he said.