NBA in-season tournament: Bucks, Lakers advance to set semifinal field

The NBA in-season tournament is headed to its final stages in Las Vegas after wins by the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers set the semifinal field on Tuesday.

The following games will be held Thursday in Vegas:

• East: No. 2 Indiana Pacers vs. No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks, 5 p.m. ET (ESPN)

• West: No. 3 New Orleans Pelicans vs. No. 1 Los Angeles Lakers, 9 p.m. ET (TNT)

After the semifinals, the final will be held on Saturday, also in Las Vegas. The semifinals will count toward each team's regular-season record, but the final will not. Every player and coach on the final four teams is already guaranteed $100,000 each, but two more wins would bump that payout to $500K.

Some of them are learning as they go.

Lakers take thriller vs. Suns, but not without controversy

A rematch of one of the best games of the group stage was just as fun.

Once again, the Lakers defeated a Suns team still missing Bradley Beal in a classic duel between LeBron James and Kevin Durant, this time winning 106-103.

The Lakers looked on track for a big win with a 15-point lead in the second quarter, but the Suns cut it down to as little as four points minutes later and took a lead multiples times in the second half. The fourth quarter saw neither team take a lead of more than five points, exchanging haymakers the whole way.

James finished with 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and five assists, while Durant had 31 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Unfortunately, the ending had perhaps the biggest controversy of the in-season tournament. Down four points, the Suns cut the lead on a Durant layup then appeared to get a vital steal after Austin Reaves lost control of the ball. The Suns ended up with the ball, but then the refs let James call timeout. As the ball was loose. Which you're not supposed to be able to do.

Had the Suns ended up with the ball, they would have had it under the basket down two points with 7.4 seconds left. Instead, the Lakers retained possession, leaving the Suns to have to start fouling as the game slipped away.

Led by Giannis, Bucks offense went off vs. Knicks

The Bucks reached Vegas with one of their best offensive nights of the season, flying past the New York Knicks 146-122 on Tuesday. Led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 35 points, the team shot a remarkable 23-of-38 from beyond the 3-point line as a team in the win.

They scored a season high in points as a team and put up at least 37 points in each of the first three quarters — which marks the first time that has happened to the Knicks since Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in 1962.

The first half was a complete shootout. The Bucks took a three-point lead into halftime after the two teams combined for 147 points. Milwaukee shot a wild 12-of-17 on 3s in the first two quarters and outscored the Knicks from behind the arc by 27 points. The two teams combined for the highest field-goal percentage in the first half of any game this season, too.

Despite Milwaukee’s hot shooting, Julius Randle kept the Knicks in it. Randle shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the field in the first half and scored 25 of his 41 points in the first two periods. He simply couldn’t miss.

But that didn’t last for the Knicks. The Bucks took control in the third quarter, opening the period on a 16-6 run that was capped by a huge, out-of-bounds lob to Antetokounmpo.

Randle missed his first bucket during that stretch, and New York’s run was over. The Bucks outscored the Knicks by 13 in the third quarter to grab a 16-point lead and then cruised to the 24-point win.

Antetokounmpo was stopped just short of dropping a triple-double in the win for Milwaukee. He finished with 35 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds while shooting 15-of-22 from the field. Damian Lillard added 28 points and seven rebounds, and Malik Beasley added 18 points. The Bucks shot 60.4% from the field and 60.5% from beyond the 3-point line.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

PF - MIL - #34

Tuesday's game

35

Pts

8

Reb

10

Ast

68.2

FG%

33:49

Min

Randle finished with 41 points, six rebounds and five assists and shot 14-of-19 from the field for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson had 24 points, and R.J. Barrett finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. The Knick shot just 7-of-21 from 3-point range.