The Milwaukee Bucks have to realise that they are now the team to beat in the NBA, so says Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee hit back from their 136-100 home loss to the Denver Nuggets with a 112-98 victory over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
Antetokounmpo was their inspiration, as he so often is, with the reigning NBA Finals MVP finishing with a triple-double of 33 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, including 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Bucks closed it out on a 17-4 run.
The Bucks are fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 32-21 record, but Antetokounmpo believes the team have not yet fully adjusted to the added weight of expectation that comes with being reigning champions.
"That wasn't us as a team," Antetokounmpo told reporters after the win over the Wizards when asked what went wrong against Denver.
"I don't remember the last time I lost by 36 in Milwaukee. Obviously that was kind of embarrassing, but at the end of the night, those nights are going to happen. But we were able to come out tonight, play hard and play together, try to set the tone.
"We have to realize that in order for us to be great, we've got to play hard. We cannot expect that people are just going to hand us the game when we go out there.
"People are coming for us. People are hunting us right now. They get excited when they see, 'Milwaukee Bucks, world champs.' We've got to play every single night hard and build that habit."
Only Trae Young (1,248) and Jayson Tatum (1,250) have accumulated more points than Antetokounmpo (1,242) this season, while the Greek forward's points per game average of 28.9 ranks him fourth in the NBA.
Tuesday's haul was his fourth triple-double of the season and a 29th of his career, but no other Bucks player has yet managed one in 2021-22.
In each of his last three triple-doubles, Antetokounmpo has scored at least 30 points.
Jrue Holiday provided good support with 22 points, five rebounds and two assists and Khris Middleton impressed late, though George Hill missed out due to a neck problem.
"I think he's going to miss a few games here," Bucks coach Budenholzer said of Hill.
"We're going to have to give him a little bit of time and see how he responds to some treatment, to some time off."
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Bayern Munich 2-2 Real Madrid: Vinicius' late leveller sets up winner-takes-all showdown
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior scored twice, including an 83rd-minute penalty, to snatch a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in an entertaining Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday.
The Brazilian struck against the run of play when he slotted in to give the visitors the lead from Toni Kroos' defence-splitting pass after 24 minutes at Allianz Arena.
Bayern struck twice in four second-half minutes to turn the game around, with Leroy Sane threading home a powerful shot in the 53rd minute and Harry Kane edging his side ahead with a penalty soon after.
Madrid, however, earned a spot-kick of their own when Rodrygo was brought down and Vinicius coolly converted it to equalise, leaving this tie wide open ahead of next week's return leg.
Facing each other for a record eighth time at this stage of the competition, it was Bayern who started well, racking up half a dozen attempts on goal by the 15th minute with Sane and Kane coming close.
Madrid needed only one chance to score though, stunning the home crowd when Kroos sliced open the Bayern defence with a through ball and Vinicius chased it down to beat Manuel Neuer.
Kroos almost added another himself in the 51st minute but his curled shot was palmed wide by Neuer. Instead, it was Bayern who scored two minutes later with a solo effort and shot from Sane for a deserved equaliser.
Their comeback was complete in the just four minutes later when Jamal Musiala was brought down by Lucas Vazquez and Kane sent Andriy Lunin the wrong way to put the home side ahead.
Madrid, chasing a 15th European Cup, levelled in the 83rd minute with Vinicius' penalty to set up a mouth-watering return leg in Madrid next week.
The winners will face either Borussia Dortmund or Paris Saint-Germain, who meet in the second semi-final on Wednesday.
Vinicius double drags Madrid back into Champions League semi-final after Bayern draw
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior scored twice, including an 83rd-minute penalty, to snatch a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in an entertaining Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday.
The Brazilian struck against the run of play when he slotted in to give the visitors the lead from Toni Kroos' defence-splitting pass after 24 minutes at Allianz Arena.
Bayern struck twice in four second-half minutes to turn the game around, with Leroy Sane threading home a powerful shot in the 53rd minute and Harry Kane edging his side ahead with a penalty soon after.
Madrid, however, earned a spot-kick of their own when Rodrygo was brought down and Vinicius coolly converted it to equalise, leaving this tie wide open ahead of next week's return leg.
Kim Min-Jae's mindless drag on Madrid forward Rodrygo afforded Carlo Ancelotti's side their leveller seven minutes from time, with Thomas Tuchel's men now needing an unlikely away win to reach the final.
Yet Tuchel will feel a draw was the least Bayern deserved, having dominated the opening stages before a remarkable second-half turnaround displayed their attacking quality in Munich.
Bayern will look to Kane once more for inspiration in Madrid given their talisman has been involved in 11 goals in the competition this season (eight goals, three assists); the most ever by an English player in a single campaign in the Champions League.
However, Tuchel may still be concerned as when avoiding defeat away from home in the first leg of a knockout stage tie in the Champions League, Madrid have progressed on 18 of the previous 19 occasions.
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