PHILADELPHIA – The Milwaukee Bucks won their second game in a row as they outlasted a scrappy and underhanded Philadelphia 76ers team, 126-113, on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Head coach Doc Rivers fell ill in the first half and finished the game watching from his office. Assistant coach Darvin Ham coached in his stead.

“You’re gonna have to beat ’em,” Ham said of Philadelphia. “They’re just not gonna lay down. I think to start the game we were just a few steps slow, but after that first quarter we woke up and got more attentive to that defensive side of the ball.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his eighth triple-double of the season with a dominant 35-point, 20-assist, 17-rebound effort, and Bucks needed all of that in his 39 minutes of action as they trailed by 17 early in the first half and were in a dogfight for much of the game.

Bucks guard Gary Trent Jr. simply said, “He willed us to a win.”

The teams were tied 85-85 with just minutes remaining in the third quarter before the Bucks built a bit of a cushion behind seven points from Trent in the final minute to give Milwaukee a 96-87 lead heading into the fourth. Antetokounmpo then scored 11 points and handed out six assists in the decisive fourth quarter.

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The MVP candidate imposed his will throughout, however, against an undersized 76ers team that was without stars Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey.

Antetokounmpo became the only player in league history to produce a stat line of 35 or more points, 20 or more assists and 15 or more rebounds. He also had two steals. He shot 12 of 19 (63%) from the field and 10 of 11 (90.9%) from the free throw line – the third time he cracked 90% when attempting at least 10 free throws.

“Whatever the (expletive) he did,” Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma said shaking his head at the incredible stat line. “Whatever the (expletive) he did, yeah.”

For his part, Antetokounmpo was typically demure and focused on winning the first game of a road trip.

“It feels good,” he finally allowed of his performance. “I feel like I’ll talk about it with my kids or my grand kids when I’m retired.”

He set a career-high for assists in game, surpassing the 16 he handed out against San Antonio on Dec. 19, 2023. It was the third-most assists in game in Bucks franchise history.

“I’m not going to lie, I love handling the ball, I love playing also off the ball,” he said. “But when you are a primary ball-handler you just have to keep on making good decisions for the team. I feel like most of the time I try to make the best decision possible, either for myself or for my teammates.

“But, yeah, Ryan (Rollins) is also incredible, he’s playing incredible. He’s also playing a very, very fast pace for us and making good decisions, getting downhill, knocking down shots. Sometimes, when he has the ball, I play off the ball myself, and when he doesn’t have the ball, I just make as many good decisions as I can for myself and for the team.”

Rivers had been saying that with star point guard Damian Lillard out with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf that the Bucks need Antetokounmpo to think and play like a distributor, a true “point forward,” and Ham said the the star did a great job of getting his teammates into the right places on the court against Philadelphia to receive passes.

And with his teammates able to turn 20 of those passes into assists, Antetokounmpo joined Denver’s Nikola Jokić and Atlanta’s Trae Young in having a game with at least 30 points and 20 assists this season.

“It was crazy,” Trent told the Journal Sentinel. “Sitting there on the sideline explaining to guys, a triple-double in the (fourth quarter) and then what he ended with, it’s video game numbers. Like how a ‘my player’ plays. It’s crazy.”

BOX SCORE:Bucks 126, 76ers 113

Antetokounmpo also became just the third player in NBA history to record 30-plus points, 20-plus assists and 15-plus rebounds in a game along with Oscar Robertson and Jokić.

“To be his teammate over the last seven years and to see all these different milestones that he’s been able to achieve and this being just another one of those crazy, seems almost normal which is ridiculous statistical nights, just speaks volumes to the type of player he is,” said Bucks wing Pat Connaughton, “and who he is to this team, who he is to the City of Milwaukee and honestly, who he is is to the NBA. Because I think when you have guys — and there’s only a select few in the history of the game — that can do something and make it look like it was done so easily and continue to consistently do things to that level, I mean, it’s an all-time performance, it’s an all-time player.

Connaughton said Brook Lopez earned the Teammate of the Year award he was a finalist for for knowing Antetokounmpo needed one more assist for 20, and worked to draw a goaltend for the historic mark with 65 seconds left. Antetokounmpo turned up court, signaling good basket with a smile before checking out.

“I mean, he was just so great at being that ‘point forward,’ being the engine of our offense, being aggressive but still making the right reads, constantly being a threat to get to the rim and score,” said Lopez, who scored 17 points. “But still, again, spreading the ball around as well. He pretty much did it as perfectly as possible.”

Antetokounmpo also flirted with just the second, 30-point, 20-assist, 20-rebound triple-double in league history. Jokić had the first on March 7 in an overtime game.

He handed out six assists in three of the four quarters in the game, directing the Bucks offense that saw six other players reach double figures. Kuzma had 16, Taurean Prince and Trent had 13, AJ Green had 12 and Ryan Rollins had 10.

“He finally passed the ball, passed the ball today,” Kuzma joked regarding Antetokounmpo. “And I think he got rewarded with a game that’s never happened before. I think he just took what the defense gave him, really. He just came down, made the right play, made some incredible passes out of double teams and got a lot of early ones. We did a good job of running, getting up, spacing was great. A lot of times when our spacing is great you give him room to work and operate.”

Bucks move to No. 5 seed in East with win

Milwaukee has hit a particularly rough stretch since March 5, when it was a season-best 11 games over .500 and within shouting distance of the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. They had tumbled to sixth in the conference heading into Thursday’s game.

That is why the victory over the 76ers was needed, as it pulled the Bucks into a tie with Detroit record-wise – but Milwaukee currently owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Pistons. The two teams will finish the season with games on April 11 and 13.

Doc Rivers passes Phil Jackson on all-time coaching wins list

Rivers passed legendary coach Phil Jackson for No. 7 on the all-time coaching wins list Thursday with his 1,156

th career victory, even though he did not finish the game on the bench after falling ill in the first half.

“Coach Doc just passed Phil Jackson in all-time wins, so congrats to him,” Antetokounmpo said, a smile forming. “There’s gotta be, once we go back home, we gotta have a video for him.”

Antetokounmpo winked as he said that, a reference to the lack of a tribute video for Mike Budenholzer when the former Bucks coach returned to Milwaukee for the first time as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns.

“But yeah, I hope he feels better because we’re gonna need him on the bench against Miami,” Antetokounmpo continued about Rivers.

Rivers is 59-53 in his season-and-a-half with Milwaukee, but there was a bit of symmetry in the milestone win over Philadelphia as he led the 76ers to a 154-82 record in three seasons from 2020-23.

He also coached Boston (416 wins), the Los Angeles Clippers (356) and Orlando (171).

“It’s awesome. It just says I’ve had had a lot of success, I’ve done a lot of good things in this job,” Rivers said before the game. “But I’ve also had a lot of help. I’ve had great coaches with me. I have an amazing staff now. I’ve had some pretty good players throughout my career. But winning is what we’re supposed to do and I try to do that. But I don’t count, I don’t look. I don’t know. That’s not why I’m doing it, I’ll put it that way.”

Next on the wins list for Rivers to catch is former Bucks coach George Karl, who is No. 6 with 1,175 victories.

Nick Nurse ejected in fourth quarter

Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse was hit with a technical from the far baseline from his bench with 6 minutes, 26 seconds to go in the game. He couldn’t believe the call, so when play came back toward him he made sure to have a more intimate conversation and received his second technical 18 seconds later and he was ejected.

Five numbers

• 2: Games AJ Green missed with a sprained AC joint in his right (shooting) shoulder. He suffered the injury late in the Bucks’ loss to New York on March 28 and missed the contests against Atlanta and Phoenix.
• “It definitely hurt otherwise I would’ve stayed out there, but just not being able to move it really, I couldn’t obviously shoot, but we’re good now,” Green told the Journal Sentinel. “Obviously feeling comfortable and fluid with my shot (but) being able to defend and take bumps in certain ways kind of irritated it, but I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where I can do that.”
• 4: Games in his career in which Giannis Antetokounmpo handed out at least 15 assists.
• 80: Percent shooting on three-pointers made by AJ Green (4 of 5). He made 5 three-pointers in Denver on March 26, but he had been shooting just 34% from behind the three-point line since March 8.
• 7-13: Brook Lopez’s free throw shooting over his last six games. The 53.8% mark is a stark falloff from the 84.6% he made at the charity stripe over his first 69 games.
• 55: More shots New York, Atlanta, Phoenix and Philadelphia have taken than the Bucks in their last three games. Milwaukee turned it over too much and allowed too many offensive rebounds, leading to the shot deficit and a 2-2 record in those games.

Brook Lopez finalist for Teammate of the Year

The NBA announced 12 finalists for the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award Wednesday, and Bucks center Brook Lopez earned a nomination.

Per the NBA, the annual award “recognizes the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on and off the court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to their team.”

Jrue Holiday won the award in consecutive seasons while with the Bucks in 2022 and 2023. He is the only three-time winner of the award. Current Bucks guard Damian Lillard won the award while with Portland in 2021.Other nominees include Steven Adams (Houston), Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers), Jalen Brunson (New York), Stephen Curry (Golden State), Tobias Harris (Detroit), Al Horford (Boston), Jaren Jackson (Memphis), James Johnson (Indiana), DeAndre Jordan (Denver), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland) and Jaylin Williams (Oklahoma City).

The award was founded in the 2012-13 season and is named after Rochester/Cincinnati Royals teammates Jack Twyman and Maurice Stokes. Stokes suffered a head injury during a game in 1958 and was later paralyzed, and Twyman became his legal guardian until Stokes’ death in 1970.

Is Giannis playing?

The Bucks superstar is probable to play as he continues to manage a sprained foot suffered in Phoenix on March 24. He missed one game with the injury (March 26) but has played the past three games and averaged 32.7 points and 7.7 rebounds and assists per game.

What channel are the Bucks on?

The game will be broadcast locally on FanDuel Sports Network with Lisa Byington, Steve Novak and Melanie Ricks on the call.

What time is the Bucks game?

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.

Bucks injury report

• Damian Lillard, out (right calf deep vein thrombosis)
• Jericho Sims, out (right thumb surgery)
• Bobby Portis Jr., out (league suspension)
• AJ Green, questionable (right AC joint sprain)
• Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (left foot sprain)

Bucks probable starting lineup

• Guards: Ryan Rollins, Taurean Prince
• Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyle Kuzma
• Center: Brook Lopez

Bucks vs. 76ers odds, over/under

Milwaukee is an 11.5-point favorite over Philadelphia with the over/under set at 226.5 per BetMGM.

Eastern Conference playoff picture

Heading into Thursday night’s games, here is what the Eastern Conference playoff bracket looks like:

No. 1 Cleveland vs. No. 8 Play-in winnerNo. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 DetroitNo. 2 Boston vs. No. 7 Play-in winnerNo. 3 New York vs. No. 6 Milwaukee

Eastern Conference standings

Heading into Thursday’s games, here is what the standings look like through the play-in spots in the East:

1. Cleveland (61-15)
2. Boston (56-20)
3. New York (48-28)
4. Indiana (45-31)
5. Detroit (42-34)
6. Milwaukee (41-33)
7. Orlando (37-40)
8. Atlanta (36-40)
9. Miami (35-41)
10. Chicago (34-42)