GRAYSON ALLEN

The NBA’s long regular season can be tedious, but make no mistake, it matters.

Boston forward/center Robert Williams missed his third straight game with an injured left knee as the Celtics tried to keep their season alive Friday night in Game 6 against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Al Horford and Jayson Tatum scored 30 points each and led the Boston Celtics’ fourth-quarter comeback in a 116-108 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks that tied their Eastern Conference semifinal at two games apiece.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 42 points and made the go-ahead basket with 44.3 seconds left and the Milwaukee Bucks withstood a frantic flurry of shots in the final seconds to beat the Boston Celtics 103-101 on Saturday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had his second career postseason triple-double to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 101-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

The defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks recovered from a bumpy beginning and rediscovered their championship form in plenty of time to dispose of the Chicago Bulls in their opening-round series.

Grayson Allen set playoff career highs with 27 points and six 3-pointers, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points and 17 rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 119-95 to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round series.

Grayson Allen made five 3-pointers and scored 22 points and the Milwaukee Bucks dominated the Chicago Bulls 111-81 on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series without the injured Khris Middleton.

The road back to the NBA Finals has become bumpy for the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks.

DeMar DeRozan scored 41 points for his career playoff high and the Chicago Bulls outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks 114-110 on Wednesday to tie their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at a game apiece.

Kevin Love made eight 3-pointers and scored 32 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers took the No. 8 play-in spot — and a matchup against Brooklyn — with a 133-115 win over Milwaukee.

Brook Lopez scored a season-high 28 points and the Milwaukee Bucks overcame a rather quiet performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo to clinch their fourth straight Central Division championship with a 127-106 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and 17 rebounds in his return to action and the Milwaukee Bucks rolled to a 126-98 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Khris Middleton scored a season-high 44 points, Jrue Holiday had 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied to beat the short-handed Phoenix Suns 132-122 on Sunday.

Retiring Duke Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski's influence on the sport will last long past his final game.

Ja Morant scored a career-high 46 points, and the Memphis Grizzlies hung on to beat DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls 116-110.

Joel Embiid had 42 points, 14 rebounds and five assists and the Philadelphia 76ers regrouped after squandering a 15-point lead to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 123-120 on Thursday night.

"Might want to sit this one out," said Bogut on Twitter to Stoudemire. Bogut was fouled by Stoudemire in 2010.

Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso will have surgery next week to repair his broken right wrist after he was taken down by Grayson Allen during the third quarter of Friday night’s 94-90 loss at Milwaukee.

Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan says the flagrant foul that resulted in Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen’s ejection could have caused a serious injury and merits a closer look from the NBA.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and had his third triple-double of the season to help Milwaukee rout the Golden State Warriors 118-99 on Thursday night in Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer’s return from the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols.

Mike Budenholzer has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols and Giannis Antetokounpo is sidelined with an illness unrelated to COVID-19, leaving the Milwaukee Bucks without their coach and star player against Toronto.

Dennis Schröder scored eight of his season-high 38 points in overtime and the Boston Celtics took advantage of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 122-113.

Julius Randle had 32 points and 12 rebounds, and the New York Knicks erased an early 21-point deficit and routed the Milwaukee Bucks 113-98.

The Milwaukee Bucks haven’t been quite themselves as they’ve opened their NBA title defense.

Tyler Herro scored 27 points in 24 minutes off the bench, Jimmy Butler added 21 and the Miami Heat opened their season with an easy 137-95 victory over the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and the Milwaukee Bucks opened the defense of their first title in half a century by beating the Brooklyn Nets 127-104 on Tuesday.

Donovan Mitchell scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and the top-seeded Utah Jazz beat the Memphis Grizzlies 121-111 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

Dillon Brooks scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to help put Memphis ahead to stay and the Grizzlies eliminated the San Antonio Spurs 100-96 on Wednesday night in the first Western Conference play-in game.

Julius Randle scored 28 points, Derrick Rose added 25, converting 11 of 15 shots and the New York Knicks held off the Memphis Grizzlies 118-104.

Nikola Jokic scored 47 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the second overtime, and the Denver Nuggets rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 139-137.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, right, goes to the basket as Memphis Grizzlies center Xavier Tillman defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)LOS ANGELES – Anthony Davis scored 35 points and LeBron James had 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the Los Angeles Lakers' seventh consecutive victory, 115-105 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night. Kyle Kuzma had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the defending NBA champions, while Davis finished two points shy of his season high in his return from a two-game absence with an Achilles injury. Montrezl Harrell scored 14 points for Los Angeles, which extended its longest win streak in a year even after falling behind by 20 points in the first quarter. "We should never be down 20 points at any point in time with the personnel that we have on our team.

Houston Rockets guard John Wall, left, handles the ball against Memphis Grizzlies forward Kyle Anderson in the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)MEMPHIS, Tenn. – John Wall scored 22 points, Eric Gordon added 20 and the Houston Rockets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 115-103 on Thursday night. Wall said the veteran Rockets have told Tate, a rookie, to stay within his game and take advantage of his shots, particularly corner 3s. Rookie Desmond Bane led the Grizzlies with 16 points, while Ja Morant added 15. After shooting 26% from 3-point range against the Thunder, the Rockets were 19 of 45 (42.2%) against Memphis. For the Houston game, select groups of season ticket holders were added to the previous groups, meaning up to 2,000 people or about 11% of capacity.

(AP Photo/Darren Abate)No additional NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week, the league said Wednesday, after nearly two dozen games had to be called off in the past month because of virus-related issues. That continued a good two-week trend: After 27 players were positive in results released between Jan. 6 and Jan. 19, only one player has been positive since. We all need it, not just NBA players, coaches, families. The planet needs it.”The NBA has called off 23 games this season for virus issues, 22 since Jan. 10. But it’s important to have weeks like this, because it gives everybody hope.”___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

James had 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, Anthony Davis added 17 points and nine rebounds as the Lakers opened a two-game set in Memphis with a 108-94 victory over the Grizzlies on Sunday night. “We were doing a lot of jostling with Memphis,” James said, “At the start of the fourth, I wanted to try and implement myself and my scoring a little bit more. After surrendering 36 points in the first quarter, the Lakers held the Grizzlies to 18, 21, and 19 over the final three periods. …G Alex Caruso missed his fourth game under the health and safety protocol. Gasol played 10-plus seasons with the Grizzlies.

Williamson had 23 points, seven rebounds and tied a career high with five assists in his most extensive playing time since returning to the NBA bubble. Williamson drove the lane in the third quarter and landed awkwardly, losing his left shoe. However, the big man quickly put the shoe back on and remained in the game. Jaren Jackson Jr. had 22 points for the Grizzlies, who fell to 0-3 since the NBA restart. Pelicans: Play Sacramento on Thursday.