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After one of their best offensive nights of the season, the Milwaukee Bucks are headed to Las Vegas.
The Bucks flew past the New York Knicks 146-122 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the NBA’s in-season tournament. The win officially sends them to the semifinals on Thursday in Las Vegas, where they’ll take on the Indianapolis Pacers. The Bucks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 35 points, shot a remarkable 23-of-38 from beyond the 3-point line as a team in the win.
They scored a season high in points as a team and put up at least 37 points in each of the first three quarters — which marks the first time that has happened to the Knicks since Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in 1962.
The first half was a complete shootout. The Bucks took a three-point lead into halftime after the two teams combined for 147 points. Milwaukee shot a wild 12-of-17 on 3s in the first two quarters and outscored the Knicks from behind the arc by 27 points. The two teams combined for the highest field-goal percentage in the first half of any game this season, too.
Despite Milwaukee’s hot shooting, Julius Randle kept the Knicks in it. Randle shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the field in the first half and scored 25 of his 41 points in the first two periods. He simply couldn’t miss.
But that didn’t last for the Knicks. The Bucks took control in the third quarter, opening the period on a 16-6 run that was capped by a huge, out-of-bounds lob to Antetokounmpo.
Randle missed his first bucket during that stretch, and New York’s run was over. The Bucks outscored the Knicks by 13 in the third quarter to grab a 16-point lead and then cruised to the 24-point win.
Antetokounmpo was stopped just short of dropping a triple-double in the win for Milwaukee. He finished with 35 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds while shooting 15-of-22 from the field. Damian Lillard added 28 points and seven rebounds, and Malik Beasley added 18 points. The Bucks shot 60.4% from the field and 60.5% from beyond the 3-point line.
Randle finished with 41 points, six rebounds and five assists and shot 14-of-19 from the field for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson added 24 points, and R.J. Barrett finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. The Knick shot just 7-of-21 from 3-point range.
The Bucks will take on the Pacers in the semifinals of the in-season tournament on Thursday. The Pacers beat the Boston Celtics 122-112 on Monday in their quarterfinals matchup as Tyrese Haliburton dropped his first career triple-double.