With the help of Giannis Antetokounmpo (24 points), Damian Lillard (23 points), and Bobby Portis (21 points), the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Charlotte Hornets 123-85 on Tuesday night to record their most spectacular win of the year.

Despite Charlotte scoring the fewest points any team has scored in a half this season, Milwaukee led 58–26 at the half. The 25 points the Bucks gave up in their 94-81 win against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 3, 1972, was the lowest point total the team has ever allowed in the first half of a game.

Under head coach Doc Rivers, Milwaukee has improved to 6-7 with three consecutive victories since the All-Star break. After scoring so many points only once in their first 52 games of the season, the Bucks have allowed less than 100 points in four of their past seven games.

The Bucks started a four-day run that includes three games, and this blowout allowed them to give their two greatest players some more rest. Before exiting the game with five and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter, Lillard finished with nine rebounds and seven assists. After one and a half minutes, Antetokounmpo left.

Despite failing to register a point, Brook Lopez managed two blocks to overtake Alton Lister and into second place on the Bucks’ career record with 806. With 966 bricks, Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks in career blocks.

In his 16-year career, Lopez has amassed 1,876 blocks, including a franchise-high 972 while playing for the Brooklyn Nets from 2008 to 2017.

For the Hornets, who dropped their only defeat in their previous seven games, Miles Bridges scored 17, Tre Mann scored 16, Brandon Miller scored 14, and Davis Bertans scored 12.

In their three meetings with the Hornets this season, the Bucks have dominated. They prevailed 120-84 at Milwaukee on February 9 and 130-99 in Charlotte on November 17.

Since these two teams’ previous meeting, Charlotte had made significant roster additions, including Mann, Bertans, Grant Williams, Vasa Micic, and Seth Curry around the trade deadline. Although such players had contributed to the Hornets’ recent success, they were unable to halt the Bucks.

The Bucks had missed their first five 3-point attempts before Lillard made a move that sent Charlotte’s Cody Martin sprawling to the floor and Һit a wide-open 3-pointer to break an 11-all tie.

That spectacular play was part of a 15-0 run for the Bucks that turned an 11-9 deficit into a 24-11 lead. During that time, Lillard scored eight points and added another three-pointer to finish the run.

Portis scored 12 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second quarter to help the Bucks break the game open. Charlotte scored just 10 points in the second quarter while shooting 3 of 21 overall and 1 of 13 from 3-point range.

In the end, the Bucks had a 49-point advantage.