It hasn’t taken long for Australia’s Jinglin’ Joe to get back up to full speed.
Joe Ingles erupted for a season-high 17 points in his best game yet for the Milwaukee Bucks to help them complete a big comeback win over the New York Knicks 111-107 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (all times AEDT).
Ingles also splashed in a season-high five three-pointers to go with five assists in 28 minutes off the bench as a team-high +14 plus-minus, including closing the game with the rest of the Bucks starters.
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Tue, 10 Jan
Tuesday January 10th
In addition to Ingles’ scoring outburst, the 35-year-old, who was playing in his 10th game back from an ACL injury, provided his usual calmness, playmaking and veteran leadership.
Speaking post-match, the Aussie says he’s simply happy to be getting back to some of his best form after joining the Bucks as a free agent last off-season.
“It’s nice to see some of the work that I’ve put in for the last 12 months kind of paying off, and getting that rhythm back a little bit,” Ingles told Bally Sports.
“It’s good but I’ve got to keep building on it now, because we play in two days’ time.”
The Knicks had led by as much as 17 late in the third term before Ingles played a leading role in getting Milwaukee back in the game – scoring eight points including two triples down the stretch of the period.
The Aussie buried another huge three – the Bucks’ third in a row – to cap off a 9-0 scoring run early in the fourth to see the visitors take the lead.
It was Jrue Holiday (15 points, nine assists) who was the hero in crunch time for Milwaukee though after a quiet performance prior to that. Holiday nailed two three-pointers, assisted on another and hit a dagger jumper – scoring or assisting on 13 of the Bucks’ final 17 points – to ice the win for the visitors.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 22 points led all Milwaukee starters in double figures, adding 10 rebounds and five assists, while Brook Lopez was also prolific with 17 points, three threes and three blocks.
A career-best 44-point explosion from Jalen Brunson ultimately went to waste for the Knicks in a stellar performance from the star guard – shooting 15-of-30 from the field, 4-of-10 from downtown and 10-of-10 from the line, with seven rebounds and four assists.
Julius Randle racked up 24 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and two steals and Immanuel Quickley posted 23 points, but the rest of the Knicks team excluding Brunson combined for just 13 points.
This was Ingles and the Bucks’ night though as they improved to 26-14 on the season while continuing to navigate through playing without Khris Middleton (hamstring tightness).
It meanwhile snapped a four-game losing streak for the Knicks 22-19.
ELSEWHERE…
Jayson Tatum continued his epic season, posting 32 points, four triples, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead the Boston Celtics past the Chicago Bulls 107-99 at TD Garden.
According to StatMuse, Tatum is averaging the most points ever by a Celtic in a season, going at 30.8 ahead of Tuesday’s showing.
Greg Williams added 20 points off the bench for Boston, who was without Marcus Smart (knee contusion) as it improved to 29-12 overall.
The Bulls lost DeMar DeRozan to a quad strain in the third quarter that caused him to sit out the rest of the game.
DeRozan revealed post-match that he does not consider the injury to be serious though and that it bothered him for eight games as he played through it.
Zach LaVine scored a team-high 27 points for Chicago with seven rebounds and six assists and Nikola Vucevic added 21 points and 13 boards, but the Bulls’ three-game losing streak was snapped to fall to 19-22.
Tatum and Brown guide Celtics to W | 00:45
In Memphis, the Grizzlies withstood a late run from the San Antonio Spurs in the second half of a back-to-back to come out on top 121-113 and extend their winning streak to seven games.
Tyus Jones (24 points, six assists, three steals) led all five Grizzlies starters in double-figure scoring in another brilliant spot start for Ja Morant (thigh soreness), while Jaren Jackson Jr. piled up 16 points, six boards and five blocks.
Closing out Tuesday’s action, the Denver Nuggets downed the LeBron James-less LA Lakers at home 122-109 to end their five-game winning streak.
Jamal Murray went off for a season-high 34 points with five triples, seven rebounds and two assists and Nikola Jokic recorded a 14-point, 11-rebound, 16-assist triple-double.
Russell Westbrook (25 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) and Thomas Bryant (17 points, 10 boards) fought hard for the Lakers, who were without James due to ankle soreness.
With it, the Nuggets remained on top of the West at 27-13 – the same record as the Grizzlies.
ALL RESULTS
PELICANS 132 WIZARDS 112
BULLS 99 CELTICS 107
BUCKS 111 KNICKS 107
SPURS 113 GRIZZLIES 121
LAKERS 109 NUGGETS 122
MAGIC 111 KINGS 136
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