Bucks beat Raptors in battle of top NBA teams

LOS ANGELES: The Milwaukee Bucks bounced back from a disappointing defeat with a big win in Toronto on Sunday, edging the Raptors 104-99 in a battle of the National Basketball Association’s top Eastern Conference teams.

The Raptors still own the best record in the league at 21-7, but they suffered a second straight defeat after falling 106-105 to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.

Malcolm Brogdon’s back-to-back three-pointers with 1:07 remaining first tied the score then put the Bucks up 100-97, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Brogdon scored 18 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 19 and matched his season-high with 19 rebounds for Milwaukee, who fell to the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors on Friday.

Brook Lopez also scored 19 for Milwaukee, who became the first team to beat the Raptors twice this season.

“We came off a tough loss to the Warriors, we knew we needed this one going into this back-to-back,” Brogdon said. The Bucks, who improved to 17-8, host Cleveland on Monday.

He said shaking off the loss to Golden State wasn’t difficult.

“We’re a really good team this year,” he said. “We have a lot of confidence in ourselves. We’re resilient. We’ve got a coach that has confidence in us every night win or lose.”

Toronto have dropped two straight for the second time this season and have lost three of their last four.

Serge Ibaka scored 22 points and Kawhi Leonard had 20 for the Raptors. But Kyle Lowry went scoreless for the first time this season, missing all five of his shots.

He did produce seven assists, and Toronto coach Nick Nurse said the Raptors didn’t play badly offensively.