Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo each recorded triple-doubles, but Jokic's Denver Nuggets made 24 3-pointers in a 134-123 victory over the host Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night at the Bradley Center.
Jokic needed just 16 minutes of action to record his fifth triple-double of the season. He scored 16 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in the first half and finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds and 17 assists. He also had a triple-double Tuesday in a win over the San Antonio Spurs.
Antetokounmpo scored 36 points on 14-of-21 shooting, grabbed 11 boards and dished out 13 assists with three blocked shots for his first triple-double of the season.
Eric Bledsoe scored 27 and Khris Middleton chipped in 17 for the Bucks, who shot 53.3 percent overall but couldn't stop the Nuggets long-distance shooting while making just nine 3-pointers of their own.
Gary Harris scored 20 of his 28 in the first half and Jamal Murray finished with 26 for the Nuggets. Denver extended its winning streak to three games and finished one 3-pointer shy of the league's single-game record.
The Nuggets shot 55.3 percent overall from the floor, including 60 percent (24 of 40) from beyond the arc.
Denver's Will Barton and Harris started off strong, combining to make 5 of 7 3-point attempts in the opening quarter while scoring 13 and 14 points, respectively. As a team, the Nuggets shot 65 percent while the Bucks hit 46 percent of their shots but turned the ball over five times and closed the quarter down, 35-28.
Sterling Brown's 3-pointer with 7:55 left in the half capped off a 15-3 run that put the Bucks up 43-41. However, Milwaukee couldn't stop the Nuggets, who made 13 3-pointers and shot 63.6 percent from the floor before the break to take a 74-62 lead into the break.
Antetokounmpo had 17 in the half and Bledsoe and Middleton added 12 each for Milwaukee, which trailed by as many as 23 but cut the deficit to 12 with a late run.
Jimmy Butler scored nine consecutive Minnesota points in the fourth quarter Thursday night, helping the Timberwolves complete a comeback from a 15-point deficit en route to a 119-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Minneapolis in the NBA's final game before the All-Star break.
Taj Gibson tallied a game-high 28 points and Butler added 24 for the Timberwolves, who completed a three-game homestand with two victories.
Julius Randle had a team-high 23 points for the Lakers, who went winless on a three-game trip to Dallas, New Orleans and Minnesota.
Down 91-84 entering the final period, the Timberwolves got a pair of 3-pointers from super-sub Jamal Crawford and one from fellow reserve Tyus Jones in a 10-4 burst that made it a one-point game with 9:35 to play.
The teams then traded leads six times, with two ties interspersed, before Butler gave Minnesota the lead for good at 105-103 with three free throws at the 5:25 mark.
Gibson's three-point play with 3:59 to go gave the Timberwolves some breathing room, and the Northwest Division leader held on from there to beat the Lakers for the third straight time this season.
Gibson hit 11 of his 16 shots from the floor, while Butler went 10-for-11 at the line for Minnesota, which outscored Los Angeles 29-18 on free throws.
Jeff Teague had 20 points, Crawford 15 points and Karl-Anthony Towns 10 points and a game-high 19 rebounds for Minnesota.
Randle hit eight of his 15 shots for the Lakers, who were outshot 46.7 percent to 45.7 percent by the Timberwolves.
Ivica Zubac backed Randle with 19 points, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brandon Ingram added 17 apiece.
Zubac and Caldwell-Pope both completed double-doubles with a team-high 11 rebounds. Caldwell-Pope also matched Teague for game-high assist honors with six.
Isaiah Thomas, in just his third game for the Lakers since being acquired from Cleveland last week, shot just 3-for-15 and finished with seven points.
The Lakers led for nearly the entire first 42 minutes of the game, but every time they appeared to be taking control, the Timberwolves rallied.
Los Angeles went up by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, only to see Minnesota close within 65-62 by halftime.
And after the Lakers re-established a 12-point lead in the third, the Timberwolves scratched, getting within 91-84 headed into the fourth period and setting up their 35-20 fourth-quarter finish.