Crossover World

  MILWAUKEE -- When CBS Sports' annual NBA Top 100 list was released earlier this month, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo stood alone at No. 1. Such lists are more for the fans and media rather than the players, but at Milwaukee's media day on Sunday, Giannis weighed in with his own thoughts.  To little surprise, he downplayed his own standing and declared Steph Curry the best player in the world after leading the Golden State Warriors to the title last season.  "Do I believe that I'm one of the best players in the league in the way I help my team be great and win games? "Yeah I do," Giannis said. "I'm mature enough, I'm old enough to understand that. Do I believe I'm the best in the world? No. I think the best player in the world is the person that is the last one standing, the person that takes his team to the finish line and helps them win games and become champion. "Two years ago when we did that, yeah, when I was slee...

  There will be a new NBA champion this season. After a hard-fought seven games series, it will be the Boston Celtics that advance to the Eastern Conference finals after they pulled out an impressive 109-81 victory over the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 on Sunday afternoon. The Celtics were down in the series 3-2 after five games, but they were able to avoid elimination in Game 6, and they did the same again in Game 7. Now, they'll face off against the Miami Heat for an opportunity to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.  Grant Williams led the way for the Celtics (yes, you read that correctly) with 27 points and six rebounds. Jayson Tatum had 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and Jaylen Brown added 19 points and eight rebounds for Boston.  As he did all series, Giannis Antetokounmpo did everything he could for Milwaukee, as he finished with 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists. Ultimately though, his production wasn't enough...

  NEW YORK -- In the middle of the fourth quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks' 120-119 overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, an exciting game took a frightening turn when Khris Middleton fouled Bruce Brown on a breakaway dunk. Middleton was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected. It happened after Giannis Antetokounmpo tried to drop off a pass to Jrue Holiday and Brown stole it, then took off the other way. Brown slowed down, Middleton caught up and Middleton fouled Brown in mid-air. Brown crashed to the ground in dangerous fashion, and, after a replay review, it was ruled a flagrant-2.  "I thought the Middleton play was risky," Nets coach Steve Nash said. "A guy has left his feet and you're coming behind; if you grab the arm, that's a very dangerous play. Unfortunate. I don't think Khris is a dirty player at all, but that is a dangerous play." Khris Middleton was ejected after this foul. Brown said he saw Middleton behind him before he took of...

  Six different Eastern Conference teams have held sole control of the No. 1 seed at some point this season. Four of them have since late January. One of the teams that is currently tied for the top spot has never held it for themselves… but the teams currently seeded No. 9 and No. 12 have both done so for meaningful stretches. Now, with mere weeks remaining in the regular season, the race for home-court advantage took its craziest turn yet. The Miami Heat lost four games in a row over the past week. Before last Monday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers, they were heavily favored to finish No. 1. By Sunday, their fourth straight loss gave them a total of 28, one behind Philadelphia and Milwaukee with 27. Then the Bucks lost on Saturday to the Grizzlies and the 76ers lost Sunday to the Suns. Suddenly, all three teams had 28 losses. So did the surging Boston Celtics, who themselves lost their 24th game on Jan. 21. They've lost only four times since. Now, the four Eastern Confe...

  Caesars Sportsbook currently gives Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo a 10 percent chance to win the 2021-22 NBA MVP award. Those are the odds implied by the +900 line they've currently set for that outcome. You can quibble with the exact figure if you'd like, but broadly, it represents the general tone of this race. The past several months have largely been spent debating the merits of Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic. Embiid and Jokic -- currently the two MVP favorites (Embiid has -150 odds; Jokic is listed at +135) -- faced off head-to-head earlier in March in a game largely billed as a showdown for the award. Jokic won the award a year ago. Embiid was the 2020-21 betting favorite before a mid-season injury. When ESPN's Tim Bontemps took a straw poll of likely voters for the 2022 award in February, the two of them gobbled up 88 of the possible 100 possible first-place votes. Antetokounmpo scored just nine. Regardless of whether or not Giannis actually deserves...

  Minnesota Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley and Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill are now both a little lighter in the wallet. On Tuesday, the NBA hit both players with fines for their involvement in an on-court altercation that took place during the game between the Wolves and Bucks on Saturday night at the Target Center in Minnesota. Beverley was fined $20,000 while Hill got fined $15,000. Beverley's fine was likely larger due to the fact that he served as an instigator of sorts.  The incident took place during the first quarter of the contest when Minnesota's Taurean Prince and Milwaukee's Serge Ibaka got tied up while vying for position at the foul line. While a referee was trying to separate the two players, Beverley came over and shoved Ibaka in the back, which led to Hill shoving Beverley in retaliation. The scuffle was quickly ended there by referees and the other players on the court.  Prince and Ibaka were both hit with technical fouls for their role in the ...

  Early in the fourth quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks' matchup with the Utah Jazz on Monday night, Jrue Holiday tried to drive to the basket but was not able to find a clear path through the defense. As he was forced to the baseline, he could have brought the ball back out and reset the offense, but instead fired a leaning jumper that he released from behind the backboard.  Somehow, it not only went in but caught nothing but net. When shots like that are going down, it's a good sign it's going to be your night.   This was indeed the Bucks' night, as they held off the Jazz down the stretch for a 117-111 win. Taking down one of the best teams in the Western Conference on the road is always an impressive result, but this one was extra special for the Bucks as it was their first win in Utah since Oct. 30, 2001 -- 7,440 days ago. Giannis Antetokounmpo was six years old when that game happened, and the Jazz were still led by John Stockton and Karl Malone.  In addition to ba...

  Former Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans is moving closer to an NBA return. He will sign a G League contract and join the Milwaukee Bucks' affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. If Evans impresses, it could pave the way to an NBA contract with the Bucks.  The No. 4 overall pick in 2009, Evans got off to a flying start to his NBA career, averaging 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in his first season with the Sacramento Kings. He joined Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James as just the fourth rookie in NBA history to average 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, and ended up beating out Steph Curry for the 2010 Rookie of the Year Award.  Unfortunately for Evans and the Kings, that was not the beginning of his road to stardom. In fact, it was the high point of his NBA career. While he was still a productive player for many years, he never blossomed in the way that you may have expected given his talent an...

  Brook Lopez will return to the lineup for the Milwaukee Bucks in Monday's game against the Utah Jazz, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Lopez has not played since opening night after suffering a back injury. He underwent back surgery three months ago and reports on his progress have been sparse. Now, though, it appears as if he's ready to go and contribute to Milwaukee's upcoming title defense.  The Bucks badly needed Lopez back in the lineup. Their defense, which was the backbone of their championship run a season ago, has fallen to No. 13 this season without him as their primary rim-protector. The Bucks have instead been forced to play Giannis Antetokounmpo at center far more often than they would have liked and spent their only real trade chip at the deadline, Donte DiVincenzo, on another big man in Serge Ibaka. Ibaka has struggled to live up to the lofty standard Lopez set for the Bucks at center, though, and should now be able to more comfortably fit into a...

  MILWAUKEE -- Breaking free off a screen, Landry Shamet took a pass from Cameron Payne and powered into the open space in front of him. Realizing the danger, Giannis Antetokounmpo came over and leapt in the air, forcing Shamet to drop the ball off to Deandre Ayton under the rim. Similar situations have led to some of Giannis' most impressive defensive moments, but this time, as he tried to recover back to Ayton, he committed a foul -- his sixth of the game.  The Bucks would have to play the final minute-plus without their two-time MVP, and were clinging to a five-point lead. It could have been a nervy finish, but the Bucks still had Khris Middleton. The veteran stepped up with some of his trademark clutch shot-making, draining a turnaround fadeaway and step-back 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to seal the win.  Middleton finished with a season-high 44 points, eight rebounds and five assists on the day, as the Bucks took down the Suns in a Finals rematch, 132-122. ...

The Milwaukee Bucks picked up an impressive win on Friday, beating the Chicago Bulls 118-112 to vault their Central Division rivals for third place in the Eastern Conference. That alone would have been a great night, but the Bucks also received some positive news about their long-injured big man, Brook Lopez, who has been out since opening night with a back injury.  During his pre-game press conference, Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer announced that Lopez has been cleared to be a full participant in practice, and will start doing five-on-five work in the coming days. Lopez was also out on the floor with the Bucks prior to the game, going through warm-ups.  "Brook is going to start contact and 5-on-5 scrimmaging, which really doesn't happen much this time of year and so he hadn't had any of that yet," Budenholzer said. "So he will now start having some scrimmage and contact and we'll organize that. It's another good positive step for him." There's st...

  Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are currently 4th in the Eastern Conference. MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks are coming out of the All-Star break knowing they’ve got work ahead just to earn home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Such is life in the Eastern Conference, where only 5 1/2 games separate the top seven teams. “I just feel like if you lose one game, you go from third to fifth,” Bucks forward Bobby Portis said Friday. “If you win two games, you go from fifth to second. Just try to string together four or five good games and hopefully put ourselves in good position to be right where we want to be.” The Bucks (36-24) entered the weekend fourth in the East, only three games behind the conference-leading Chicago Bulls but just 2 ½ games ahead of the seventh-place Toronto Raptors. The Bucks play their first game since the All-Star break Saturday when they host the Brooklyn Nets. Milwaukee understands that...

  Giannis Antetokounmpo treated the NBA Skills Challenge like it was the NBA Finals, Cole Anthony dunked in Timberlands and more takeaways from Saturday's festivities. While they did not get the outcome they wanted, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Cole Anthony put on a show in Cleveland. Here are the biggest winners of the night.  1. Giannis Antetokounmpo Nobody has ever approached the Skills Challenge like Giannis Antetokounmpo, a reigning Finals MVP who really had no business participating and behaved like his life depended on the outcome. Giannis only finished with eight points in the Team Shooting portion, but what’s more significant than that score (which isn’t very good) is how this man treated a meaningless event he’s immeasurably overqualified for like it was the NBA Finals. Giannis sprinted through the exercise after opening it up by drilling a 5-pointer. When the Antetokounmpo Brothers were victorious in the passing round, Giannis acted like the Bucks just advanced in the ...