The 2018-19 NBA regular season continued on Thursday after the All-Star Weekend. In an eye-catching game in the East, the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the visiting Boston Celtics 98-97 at the Fiserv Forum. 

Meanwhile, in the West, the Los Angeles Lakers came back from a 19-point trailing to claim a victory against the Houston Rockets 111-106 at the Staples Center.

Like usual, Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped Milwaukee's highest 30 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Khris Middleton who just played his first All-Star Game had a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds plus four assists. While Malcolm Brogdon and Brook Lopez scored respectively 15 and 10 points, no one else of the team put down double digits.

Kyrie Irving got Boston's most 22 points but at only a field goal rate of 33.3 percent (9/27). Al Horford dropped a double-double of 21 points and 17 rebounds plus five assists. Jayson Tatum also had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jaylen Brown from the bench scored 15 points and five rebounds.

As two of the best defensive teams in the league, the Bucks and the Celtics made scoring difficult for each other from the beginning of the game. Boston in offense focused on Lopez as their breach and had everyone confronting him attack firmly. As Lopez had to walk out of the paint to guard Boston's players, his absence gave Horford too much room under the rim to grab offensive rebounds.

The Bucks had their response. After Horford left the court, Boston did have another qualified big man to do his job, giving Milwaukee the chance of catching up. Head coach Mike Budenholzer sent Nikola Mirotic and Ersan İlyasova who were both threatening from the 3-pt line and tall enough to protect the paint. Moreover, from the second quarter, Antetokounmpo began to show how destructive he was in the offense when the other four teammates were shooters. When the Celtics put one player to defend him, he could not stop the Greek Freak. If they double-teamed him, Antetokounmpo could always pass the ball to his open teammate for three-pointers.

Thanks to their six shots made in the second quarter, Milwaukee led 53-47 after the first half. The other reason that Boston were trailing was that Irving made only one of his ten shots to get two points and one assist.

The two teams again struggled with their offense in the third quarter as neither side could shoot better than 40 percent with their rates, field goal or 3-pt. The Celtics managed to stay in the game (68-74) for two reasons: 

1. They could force more turnovers by the opponent. 

2. Irving grew warm with his shooting to get 10 points (4/9) this quarter.

The last quarter became a competition of superstars. Irving, Horford and Tatum kept scoring hard points while Antetokounmpo responded with his incredible individual performance. As the score reached a 95-95 draw in the last minute. Middleton stood out for the Bucks to sink a valuable three-pointer. Though Boston soon scored two points by Irving and got a 24-second violation from Milwaukee, Irving failed to make his last floater before the Bucks won their third game against the Celtics this season.

LeBron James again turned on his "full power mode" by scoring 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the 40 minutes he played for the LA. Brandon Ingram had a double-double of 27 points and 13 rebounds. Kyle Kuzma dropped 18 points, six rebounds and five assists while Reggie Bullock and JaVale McGee put down respectively 14 and 11 points. No from the team's bench scored double-digit points.

James Harden had Houston's highest 30 points, but he only sank two out ten shots from the 3-pt line. Chris Paul missed one assist for triple-double by dropping 23 points, ten rebounds and nine assists. Eric Gordon got 14 points. Clint Capela returned from injury after missing 15 games to put down a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kenneth Faried came back to the bench but still scored 13 points.

The Lakers played only half a good game and almost collapsed twice. They made in total eight three-pointers with an ugly rate of 26.67 percent (8/30). At the beginning of both the second and third quarter, the purple and gold played like a heap of loose sand in both offense and defense, giving the Rockets the biggest lead of 19 points (79-60).

Houston were the better team in the first three-quarters of the game. They managed to keep the Lakers from speeding up, find the most reliable way in the offense, and help Harden stay on the court even after he committed three fouls in the first quarter.

The turning point came in the last six minutes of Q3. Head coach Luke Walton finally gave up his obsession with equalitarianism and had the ball in the hands of James surrounded by shooters. Such tactics immediately worked as the Lakers narrowed the score difference to 83-90 with a 15-6 run before the last quarter.

Houston suddenly went frozen with their shooting in Q4 as LA had everything they needed: early offense, second-chance points, more free throws, and three-pointers. James and Ingram together scored 13 points and created seven free throws this quarter. By contrast, Harden and Paul together committed seven fouls in Q4 and both were fouled out in the end. With a 28-16 in this quarter, the Lakers claimed a victory over the Rockets at home.

Other games on Thursday included: (away teams come first)

Phoenix Suns 98-111 Cleveland Cavaliers

Miami Heat 102-106 Philadelphia 76ers

Portland Trail Blazers 113-99 Brooklyn Nets

Sacramento Kings 123-125 Golden State Warriors