On December 20, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Bucks hosted the Spurs. However, Wembanyama, the main player of the Spurs, chose to take a break from the starting lineups, with the Bucks sending Lillard, Da Lopez, Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Beasley as starters, while the Spurs sent Collins, Vassell, Johnson, Branham and Sochan.
At the start of the first quarter, Collins scored on a layup to open the scoring for the Spurs. The Bucks were on fire, scoring back-to-back points under the basket, with Lopez completing an aerial relay dunk and Lillard scoring seven straight points. At the same time, the Spurs' offense stagnated and their defense was ineffective. Middleton and Portis hit two three-pointers, and then Lopez, Lillard and Portis scored in the paint. The Bucks went on a 23-5 offensive wave, and the Spurs' Vassell broke through for a dunk and struggled to chase the score. However, Osman stepped up in time and scored six straight points under the basket. Still, the Bucks didn't give the Spurs any chance. Portis hit back-to-back three-pointers from the outside in the final stretch, and Lillard hit back-to-back three-pointers. At the end of the first quarter, the Bucks led the Spurs by 18 points, 44-26.
At the start of the second quarter, Sochan broke through for a dunk, and Portis of the Bucks responded from the outside. Then Antetokounmpo and Payne scored on a breakaway, and the Spurs' Jones and Vassell were able to keep up with the pace. Johnson scored six points on a burst shot and Collins scored two and three from the outside. However, the Bucks' big Lopez scored four straight points under the basket, and Brother Alphabet firmly attacked the basket and hit the free throw, scoring six consecutive points to stabilize the advantage. The Bucks led the Spurs by 13 points at 72-59, and Lillard finished with a five-point trial.
After the start of the second half, the Spurs' Branham and Johnson both scored under the basket, and Collins continued to fire from the outside threes. The Bucks' Big Lopez and Antetokounmpo paint areas have been restricted. However, Lillard hit three three-pointers in a row from the outside, and Middleton, Beasley, Connaughton and Jackson also followed up with four three-pointers in time. Although Vassell also hit a three-pointer in time to score nine points in a row. Collins also scored seven points. But at the end of the third quarter, the Bucks led the Spurs by 22 points, 107-85.
At the start of the final quarter, the Bucks' Payne scored on a breakaway layup, and the Spurs' Sochan and Johnson led the team to a 9-0 spurt to close the gap. The Bucks had to make some early changes to their starters. With Portis scoring six points in a row, the Big Three, Middleton and Lillard broke through one after another, and the game lost its suspense. In the end, the Bucks won 132-119 against the Spurs!The Bucks are on a five-game winning streak!
On the Bucks, Lillard shot a whopping 77 from the field3%, contributed 40 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and his career total exceeded 20,000 points. Middleton finished with 17 points, three rebounds and four assists. Lopez had 14 points and five rebounds. He had 11 points, 14 rebounds, 16 assists, two steals and one block. Portis had 23 points and 10 rebounds.
For the Spurs, Johnson shot 529%, contributing 28 points and 12 rebounds. Collins had 22 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Vassell had 17 points, three rebounds and two assists. Branham had 12 points, two rebounds and three assists. Jones had 14 points, one rebound and five assists.