Nuggets at Bucks final score: Denver rolls 101-90

For some time, it looked like the Denver Nuggets could part ways with third-year forward Kenneth Faried.

On Thursday night, they were glad they didn’t. Faried scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field, pulled down six rebounds and dished out two assists to lead the Nuggets to a 101-90 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at the BMO Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Wilson Chandler added 15 points and six rebounds, J.J. Hickson scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Timofey Mozgov came off of the bench to score 14 points and grab nine rebounds and Randy Foye had 12 points and 10 assists.

Veteran Caron Butler led the Bucks with 17 points and Ersan Ilyasova scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Rookie sensation Giannis Antetokounmpo had 11 points, four rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.

The Nuggets got out to an early lead and looked like they were going to cruise to an easy victory, but the Bucks trimmed the deficit to five early in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets immediately responded with a 12-2 run to put the game out of reach.

The Nuggets were again without starting point guard Ty Lawson (rib fracture) and both teams made trades today, so both were short-handed. The Nuggets played eight players while the Bucks played nine (and essentially eight because center Miroslav Raduljica played just two minutes).

The win improves the Nuggets to 25-28 and the loss drops the Bucks to 10-44.