Giannis has triple-double as Bucks beat Cavaliers in first game after firing Adrian Griffin

A day after the Milwaukee Bucks fired Adrian Griffin in an effort to improve the team, the Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-116 on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Interim head coach Joe Prunty oversaw the team’s third straight win and sixth victory in seven games. Milwaukee is 31-13 while Cleveland dropped to 26-16. The two teams play again Friday night.

"I think the experience of our team just came through for us tonight," Bucks guard Damian Lillard said. "We came out sharp. I thought in shootaround we were sharp. We knew what the task was and we know what happened the last time we played them and we wanted to come out in the first of these two game and just kind of set the tone on our home floor.

Box score: Bucks 126, Cavaliers 116

"Cleveland, they're a great team, they've been playing very, very well lately. A week ago they beat us by 40. We play them again on Friday. At the end of the day with all the news that happened yesterday I think the guys came in and said we have to be one, we have to become one. There's a lot of people that spoke up and say either this is going to tear us apart and we're just gonna be like OK, we'll make excuses, this happened, that happened, this is taking place and for us not to do what we are here to do, or are we going to come together and we're going to try to be better from this? I feel like guys did that."

Milwaukee was led by its top three offensive players, as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Khris Middleton combined for 87 points. Antetokounmpo had 35 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists, which tied his single-season high of seven triple-doubles in just his 42nd game (he had seven over 61 games in 2020-21).

Lillard scored 28 on 8 of 21 shooting while Middleton had 24 on 8 of 15 shooting. They were the only Bucks to reach double figures.

Cleveland was led by Jarrett Allen, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds. Donovan Mitchell had 23 points as six total Cavaliers reached double figures.

Bucks snap Cavaliers winning streak

The Cavaliers came into Wednesday’s game as the hottest team in the NBA, riding an eight-game winning streak that has seen them hold opponents to under 100 points in four straight games and five times overall.

And the Bucks were one of those teams in a 135-95 loss at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Jan. 17, as the team looked out of sorts offensively without Antetokounmpo.

During the streak, the Cavaliers had won by an average of 22.5 points per game. Only three times did they win by fewer than 20.

Cleveland put the streak together by leaning on its defense, which was ranked No. 2 in opponents' scoring (109.7 points allowed per game). The Bucks came into the game as the league’s best scoring offense (124.6 points per game) and third in overall shooting (49.9%) and eighth in three-point shooting (37.7%).

Just as in their previous two matchups, it was strength-on-strength. Except this time Milwaukee turned up its defense while maintaining efficiency on offense – a combination the team has shown flashes of at times. It was there from start to finish Wednesday and eventually helped the Bucks build a 20-point lead late in the third quarter.

While Cleveland climbed briefly within single digits, it never felt like the Bucks were out of control of the game. Milwaukee’s 126 points were the fifth-most scored on the Cavaliers all season.

Joe Prunty leads Bucks as interim head coach

Longtime assistant Joe Prunty served as the interim head coach on Wednesday after the Bucks fired Griffin on Tuesday. The team is set to hire Marquette University alumnus Glenn “Doc” Rivers as its full-time coach.

"Joe’s a pro," Bucks general manager Jon Horst said before the game. "He’s done this before. We have total confidence in his ability to help us in this transition, he’s also fully aware that he’s an interim coach at this point and we’re trying to hire a head coach."

It was the second time Prunty has served as an interim head coach with the Bucks, as he guided the team to a 21-16 record and a seven-game playoff loss to Boston at the end of the 2017-18 season following the dismissal of Jason Kidd. He also went 2-0 as Atlanta's interim coach last season before the Hawks hired Quin Snyder following the dismissal of Nate McMillan.

"It's great getting the win," Prunty said. "As far as for me, that was the task at hand. That's what they said, 'you're going to coach this game,' so really, in all of my years of doing this, I've been blessed to be a part of a lot of great things. Three championships and a thousand wins and whatever, it's never been about me. So, those guys played really hard, did a lot of great things tonight."

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Did you notice?

• Malik Beasley set a hard screen for Giannis Antetokounmpo coming out of a timeout with 3 minutes 32 seconds to go in the game that opened the lane for an Antetokounmpo dunk and a 116-108 lead. Beasley then stripped Donovan Mitchell on the other end, which led to a Khris Middleton jumper and a 10-point Bucks advantage. Those two plays effectively ended any hopes of a Cavaliers rally.

• Point guard Cameron Payne appeared to have fallen out of the rotation under former head coach Adrian Griffin, playing in three games of seven since Jan. 6. But he was back in the rotation Wednesday to begin the second and fourth quarters and played 13 minutes. He scored five points on 2 of 6 shooting.When asked if the coaching change might mean a reset of sorts for his role, Payne said, "Probably so. I mean, I just gotta make sure I lock in on my opportunities every time I get a chance and just roll with what comes with it. It is a fresh start, kind of like a new day, new chapter, so I'm just gonna keep doing me. Hopefully he rock with what I do and I keep getting opportunities."

• Jae Crowder, who returned from left adductor surgery against Cleveland on Jan. 17, had been looking forward to defending some of the better players on the opposing team, and he got that chance against Cavaliers all-star guard Donovan Mitchell. Crowder came off the bench and didn’t shadow Mitchell the entire game, but the Marquette University alumnus helped hold the Mitchell to a 3-for-12 start that helped the Bucks build a 20-point lead.

MarJon Beauchamp, Chris Livingston assigned to Wisconsin Herd

Second-year forward MarJon Beauchamp and rookie Chris Livingston have been assigned to play with the team’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd.

Cavaliers' Tristan Thompson suspended for violating NBA drug policy

Cleveland was without reserve big man Tristan Thompson, as he was suspended for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program on Tuesday.

Thompson was suspended without pay for 25 games by testing positive for ibutamoren and SARM LGD-4033, which can be performance-enhancing drugs. The first game of that suspension is against the Bucks.

Thompson, 32, had played in 36 games off the bench for Cleveland and averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds.

Damian Lillard and Bobby Portis in the mix for 2024 U.S. Olympic team

USA Basketball announced a 41-person player pool that will be winnowed down to 12 for the Olympic team that will compete in Paris in the summer and Lillard and Bobby Portis are part of that pool. Team USA, which is coached by Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors, begins exhibition play July 10 and international training that will take the team to Germany and England in late July.

The Olympic Games run from July 26-Aug. 11.

Portis represented the United States for the first time last summer in the World Cup where Team USA finished in fourth place and did not earn a medal. Lillard was a starter on the 2020 Olympic gold medal winning squad. He had previously been a finalist for the 2016 U.S. team and invited to play in the 2019 World Cup, but he withdrew from that team.

Shortly after being acquired by the Bucks, Lillard was asked if he would sign up for another stint with the national team and he acknowledged that his willingness might depend on how deep the Bucks season goes as well as familial considerations.

Middleton (2020 gold medalist) and Brook Lopez (2019 World Cup team, 2020 Olympic team finalist) had expressed their interest in being on the team.

Antetokounmpo plans to play for Greece this summer as his team hopes to qualify for the Games.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Giannis has triple-double as Bucks beat Cavaliers 126-116