Bobby Portis scored a season-high 34 points while leading the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks to a 112-101 win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
The NBA Cup champion Bucks played without Giannis Antetokounmpo (back) and Damian Lillard (calf).
Portis was on triple-double watch, adding 10 boards and eight assists to his tally. Teammate Khris Middleton contributed 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Gary Trent Jr. logged 15 points, and Brook Lopez and Ryan Rollins each had 14 points.
Jordan Poole led Washington with 26 points on 8-for-19 shooting. Bilal Coulibaly scored points 20 and grabbed 11 rebounds, Corey Kispert added 16, and Alexandre Sarr added 11 points.
The offensive-themed first quarter ended in a 36-36 tie. Poole went off for 16 points thanks to 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
The Wizards shot 68.4 percent from the floor as a team in the period, but the Bucks kept up by hitting 55.6 percent.
In the second, after some back-and-forth, Portis took over the game for the Bucks. He made back-to-back 3-pointers and scored the last 10 points of a 14-0 Milwaukee run that opened a 16-point lead.
Portis ended the half with 23 to lead the Bucks, who held a 63-50 edge at the break. Milwaukee shot 11-for-25 (44 percent) from deep before halftime.
To start the third, it was Middleton’s turn to take over for Milwaukee.
Middleton contributed the majority of a 10-0 run that put the Bucks up 75-56, then shortly after hit another 3-pointer to give him 11 points in the period.
Washington continued to fight, going on a 14-6 run to slice the deficit to 86-72 going into the fourth.
In the fourth, the Bucks did not score for the first three minutes, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Lopez put them up by 18.
Portis was taken out with just under two minutes to play, finishing four points shy of his career high set on Feb. 22, 2018, for the Chicago Bulls against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Bucks improved to 2-0 over Washington this season while bouncing back from a loss at Cleveland on Friday.
The Wizards failed in a bid to win back-to-back games. They have managed just one two-game winning streak this season.
–Field Level Media