Giannis Antetokounmpo was ready to go toe to toe with Blake Griffin during a second-quarter flareup between division rivals Milwaukee and Detroit.

The game was turning contentious. It wouldn't stay close for long.

"They're just a great defensive team and just play really physical," Antetokounmpo said. "They want to be physical; they want to be dirty. They want you to get out of your game, and whenever you come in Detroit, you expect that."

Antetokounmpo scored 35 points to lift the Bucks to their 13th consecutive victory, 127-103 over the Pistons on Wednesday night. 

Milwaukee won all eight matchups with the Pistons last season — four in the regular season and four in the first round of the playoffs. The Bucks also beat Detroit last month in their first meeting of 2019-20.

There were six technical fouls during the game, and words were exchanged during a couple mild altercations. The first involved Antetokounmpo and Griffin after those two collided around midcourt in the second quarter.

"There's going to be a lot of teams that are going to come out and try to be physical with me — try to hit me, knock me down to the floor," Antetokounmpo said. "I just got to keep my composure."

In the third quarter, Antetokounmpo fell to the ground after being fouled, and then Griffin stepped over him. Milwaukee's Khris Middleton came over to confront Griffin. Three technicals were assessed after that.

"That's going to happen. In a competitive game, it's going to happen," Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. "If anything, that should get you more focused, more riled up, more ready to play, more ready to compete and more ready to be physical and finish at the rim. All those things you have to do in a competitive game like that, a physical game like that."

The Bucks went on a 13-2 run late in the second quarter to lead 57-39, and although Detroit closed within 11 at the half, the Pistons never made a major run during the final two quarters. Antetokounmpo scored 12 points in the third, and Milwaukee led 92-72 after three.

"I liked our fire in the second quarter. I liked our fire in general," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "I think the guys, they're in a good place. They're playing good basketball. So we'll keep it going."

Andre Drummond had 23 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit. Middleton had 17 points for the Bucks.

Davis scores 26 points, Lakers rout Jazz 121-96

The Los Angeles Lakers had plenty of energy left for the second night of a difficult back-to-back.

Anthony Davis scored 26 points, LeBron James added 20 points and 12 assists for his 17th double-double in 22 games, and the Lakers dominated on both ends of the court in a 121-96 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.

"We knew we had to bring energy," James said. "Even with a back-to-back, we still got to have energy, and we got to push the pace. We're very good when we get stops and we run. It's very important for us to push the pace, but it starts with our defense and we got defensive stops."

Rajon Rondo paced a strong bench effort with 14 points, and season highs of 12 assists and eight rebounds.

The Lakers burned the Jazz repeatedly in transition, outscoring Utah 32-5 in fast-break points. Much of that came as a result of high-energy defense. Los Angeles totaled 21 points off 19 Jazz turnovers.

"We've got a good team," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "We have high aspirations. We're trying to keep a game-to-game, stay-in-the-moment focus throughout the year."

Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 23 for Utah. The Jazz lost for the fifth time in six games.

"At the beginning of the year, there was a determination and a focus defensively, and it showed," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "More recently, we've allowed other things, whether it be a missed shot, perception of a bad call, a turnover — everything is lingering. Our inability to get to the next play has hurt our defense."

The Jazz opened the game with baskets on four straight possessions and took an 11-5 lead. Bogdanovic got things going with back-to-back 3-pointers. Utah eventually cooled down. Los Angeles did not.

Behind a 9-0 run, the Lakers surged out to a 30-20 lead. Davis scored back-to-back baskets to punctuate the run. Los Angeles was just getting started.

The Lakers used a 16-4 run, sparked by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter from Kyle Kuzma, to stake out a 46-30 lead early in the second quarter. James fueled the bulk of the run with three baskets over a minute.

Los Angeles maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half. The Lakers led by as many as 25 points after halftime.

Utah shot 50 percent from the field in the third quarter and trimmed the deficit to 68-57 on a runner from Jeff Green. That's as close as the Jazz got. Los Angeles countered with a 10-2 run capped off by JaVale McGee's alley-oop dunk to go up 78-59 midway through the quarter.