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Bucks beat Heat, take top seed in NBA East

AAP
Giannis Antetokounmpo has helped the Milwaukee Bucks to the top of the NBA Eastern Conference.
Camera IconGiannis Antetokounmpo has helped the Milwaukee Bucks to the top of the NBA Eastern Conference.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton scored 33 points each as the Milwaukee Bucks - who trailed by 23 in the first half - rallied to defeat the Miami Heat 130-116 as part of the NBA restart.

Antetokounmpo, who picked up his fifth foul with 10:48 left in the fourth, added a game-high 12 rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes.

Middleton had a team-high eight assists and six rebounds in 34 minutes.

Milwaukee (55-14), which has the best record in the NBA, overcame a 17-point halftime deficit to snap a two-game losing streak and clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

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Beyond the victory, the good news for the Bucks is that they are fully healthy.

On Thursday, the Bucks got Wesley Mathews and centre Brook Lopez back from the injured list.

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In Milwaukee's previous game, on Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks got guards Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton back from injuries.

A run of 21 unanswered points spanning the third and fourth quarters powered the Phoenix Suns to a 114-99 win over the Indiana Pacers in NBA seeding-round competition.

The Suns (30-39) moved to a perfect 4-0 since the restart from the COVID-19 hiatus, and did so trailing for less than three total minutes against a Pacers team that came into Thursday's match-up also undefeated through three games in the Orlando-area bubble.

The win pulls the Suns out of the basement in the Western Conference among the teams in Orlando, passing Zion Williamson and the Pelicans.

New Orleans lost to the Kings 140-125.

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