Bucks 129, Clippers 124: Giannis puts his touch on display as he ties career high with 4 three-pointers

LOS ANGELES - Giannis Antetokounmpo has struggled as a shooter this season, both from the free-throw line and behind the arc.

He was just 17.4% on three-pointers and 60.0% on free throws heading into Wednesday night's contest against the Los Angeles Clippers.

But it was Antetokounmpo the shooter who carried the Bucks to a 129-124 victory at Staples Center in a game Clippers star Kawhi Leonard sat out for rest. Antetokounmpo, given plenty of space outside, knocked down 4 of 7 three-pointers, tying his career-high which he set April 8, 2016 for three-pointers made in a game.

When he wasn't raining three-pointers, Antetokounmpo earned 18 free throws, showing off greater arc in his shot on the way to going 14 of 18 from the stripe.

"It felt good," Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks' fourth straight win. "Not going to lie, I’ve been doing the same thing – in the first seven games they didn’t go in and in the eighth game they went in. ...

“Eventually (the free throws) were going to go in. Shot it better tonight, shot it better last game. Just trying to put some arc into the ball, trying to get my hands underneath the ball.”

BOX SCORE:Bucks 129, Clippers 124

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Those shooting numbers were part of a 38-point, 16-rebound, 9-assist performance for the Bucks star, one that he punctuated with a late block and rebound to seal the win.

Antetokounmpo didn't get really going, though, until midway through the third quarter. With the Clippers doing a good job of keeping him out of the paint, Antetokounmpo made just three of his first 12 shots and drew a rise out of the sellout crowd when – after making his first six free throws of the night – he airballed one early in the third quarter.

The Bucks, which led by as many as 17 in the first half, then saw their margin disappear as the Clippers surged behind 34 points each from Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell to tie the game in the third.

But that's when Antetokounmpo took over. With the score tied at 77, Antetokounmpo trailed a drive by Eric Bledsoe and was in perfect position to catch a pass and throw down a dunk. Over the next four minutes he added a pair of three-pointers, went 3 for 4 at the free-throw line and dished a pass to Hill in the corner for a three-pointer, helping the Bucks regain a 10-point advantage.

For the Clippers, those Antetokounmpo threes were the hard pill they had chosen to swallow.

"We're fine with (Antetokounmpo making three-pointers)," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "We really were. We did a pretty good job early on keeping him out of the paint. I thought as the game went on, and in that one stretch where we transitioned, he got us.

"But overall, he's a beast – he really is. You got to live with something and with chose to live with that. He got comfortable and give him credit -- you watch him every night before the game and he works on it. He takes his job seriously, so good for him."

The fourth quarter brought more of the same, with Antetokounmpo stringing together a layup, dunk, three-pointer and an assist on a Kyle Korver three-pointer to put the Bucks up by 14 with under five minutes to go.

“I thought his focus, his effort was really, really good tonight," coach Mike Budenholzer said. "He really kind of put us on his shoulders tonight, had a special game.”

However, the Clippers refused to go away, riding some sloppy play by the Bucks along with clutch three-point shooting by Landry Shamet to hang close down the stretch.

Every time the Bucks needed an answer, though, they got one. Eric Bledsoe made a tough bucket in traffic, Hill flew in out of nowhere for a put-back slam, Brook Lopez batted away one of his six blocks and then Khris Middleton and Antetokounmpo made free throws to seal it.

“We’re just trusting," Bledsoe said when asked how the Bucks held on and have rattled off four wins in a row. "That’s all it is, we’re just trusting our work, trusting our play calls and trusting each other and that’s the biggest thing.”

It wasn't just Antetokounmpo who had his shots falling, either. Every Bucks player who connected on a three-pointer made at least four, with Hill going 6 of 7, Bledsoe going 4 of 8 and Kyle Korver coming off the bench to go 4 of 7. The rest of the Bucks combined to go 0 for 20.

Bledsoe got the Bucks going early with a triple to start the game, adding two more by the end of the first quarter on the way to a 20-point night. Hill was even hotter, coming off the bench and making all five of his three-pointers in the first half. He finished with 24 points and could have been in line for more, but he caught an inadvertent elbow to the face from Williams in the final minutes of fourth quarter and sat out the rest of the night.

“I’m alright," Hill said after the game, sporting a swollen right eye. "It’s a basketball play, got hit. It’s not the first bruise in my life. I’ve been in some fights in my neighborhood before. I’m alright.”

Wednesday's clash, which could be considered a potential NBA Finals preview, though with Leonard and injured co-star Paul George out for the Clippers it didn't have the same kind of luster as it could have had. Still, the Bucks were happy to come away from Staples Center with the win and Antetokounmpo will look forward to a future re-match against Leonard for the first time since the Eastern Conference finals.

"I’m not going to say I was disappointed," Antetokounmpo said of Leonard's absence. "If Kawhi’s playing you know you’re going to have a tough night. You got to guard and you got to basically score on him. I’m excited to see him in the future."