Giannis dishes out MVP performance

Milwaukee’s two-time reigning Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo poured in 43 points Monday, powering the Bucks to a 125-115 NBA victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Antetokounmpo connected on 17 of 24 shots from the field. He made a brace of three pointers and was simply unstoppable in the paint.

His was just one of the outstanding performances on a night that featured a 40-point outburst from Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum and a triple-double for Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks

Antetokounmpo set the tone early in Milwaukee, scoring 30 of the Bucks’ 67 first-half points.

Detroit managed to trim the deficit to 118-110 with 2:38 left to play, but Antetokounmpo stopped their momentum with a block of a driving Sekou Doumbouya shot, then grabbed the rebound of teammate Donte DiVincenzo’s miss for a put-back basket.

“The blocked shot and the put-back was big,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said.

Boston’s Tatum scored 21 of his season-best 40 in the second quarter as the Celtics rallied from an early deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors, 126-114.

Tatum connected on 11 of 19 shots from the field and was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line as he fell one point shy of matching his career best.

The Dallas Mavericks won a Texas tussle with the Rockets in Houston on the back of Doncic’s first triple-double of the season.

Doncic, who sat out Sunday with a quadriceps contusion, returned with a vengeance with 33 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists as Dallas held off a late Rockets push for a 113-100 victory.