Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 35 points to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to their 13th consecutive win, 127-103 over the Detroit Pistons.
The last time the Bucks had a longer winning streak than this was when they won 16 in a row spanning the end of the 1972-73 season and the beginning of 1973-74.
Milwaukee had won its previous two matches by 41 and 44 points, and the Pistons had won their previous two by 34 and 33. This one wasn’t close, either. The Bucks have dominated Detroit of late.
Milwaukee won all eight matchups with the Pistons last season — four in the regular season and four in the first round of the playoffs.
The Bucks also defeated Detroit last month in their first meeting of 2019-20.
Andre Drummond had 23 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit.
"They're just a great defensive team and just play really physical," Antetokounmpo said. "They want to be physical, they want to be dirty. They want you to get out of your game, and whenever you come in Detroit, you expect that."
There were six technical fouls in this game, and there were words exchanged during a couple of mild altercations. The first involved Antetokounmpo and Griffin after those two collided around midcourt in the second quarter.
"There's going to be a lot of teams that are going to come out and try to be physical with me -- try to hit me, knock me down to the floor," Antetokounmpo said. "I just got to keep my composure."
In the third quarter, Antetokounmpo fell to the floor after being fouled, and then Griffin stepped over him. Milwaukee's Khris Middleton came over to confront Griffin. Three technicals were assessed after that.
"At first, I was trying to ... talk back, let them know that this is more than basketball. We can stop playing basketball and we can fight," Antetokounmpo said. "At the end of the day, my teammates want me in the game, my teammates want me to keep my head in the game and I was like, whatever. At this point, whatever."
