DETROIT – The Milwaukee Bucks clinched the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket with a 125-119 victory over the Detroit Pistons Friday night at Little Caesars Arena. It was their seventh win in a row.

“We needed to go on a run,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said. “We’d come back from that long road trip. The Atlanta game was going to be a hard game anyway, we knew that, alright, we were still trying to figure it out with what lineups without Dame (Lillard) and all that. But we have found ourselves and we’re playing terrific basketball. We’re playing together.”

And with the Indiana losing to Orlando as well, the top six seeds were set in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks will travel to Indianapolis to play the Pacers the weekend of April 19-20 to begin the first round, with the Pacers holding home court as the No. 4 seed.

Last year the No. 6 Pacers upset the No. 3 Bucks in the first round, as Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the entire series with a calf strain and Damian Lillard missed two games (and was compromised in a third) with an Achilles tendon strain.

BOX SCORE:Bucks 125, Pistons 119

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Milwaukee’s position also prevents it from having to potentially run through the top three teams in the conference to reach the NBA Finals, as now it would potentially face No. 1 Cleveland in the second round and No. 2 Boston in the conference finals. The Bucks went 0-9 against the Cavaliers, Celtics and Knicks.

They were 3-1 against Indiana.

“Obviously we knew that Detroit is playing good basketball, just beat New York (Thursday) and we knew coming here it was gonna be a playoff atmosphere and we gotta go out there and compete for 48 minute and try to win the game and I think that’s what we did as a team,” Antetokounmpo said. “Like now, OK, we can talk all day about the seeding and who each team is trying to play and position the fourth spot, third spot, sixth spot, whatever, but at the end of the day all we care about is winning games and building good habits. The last couple of games we’ve been doing that.”

The Bucks created points off turnovers down the stretch and taking care of the ball on their side of the court in crunch time. Kevin Porter Jr. hit two free throws with 10.5 seconds left to give the Bucks a 124-119 lead to effectively clinch the game.

Antetokounmpo came up with a pair of blocked shots in the closing moments as well, and he was a force around the rim late as the Bucks closed with a small lineup with him at the “five” position.

Detroit shot 50% for the game until the final seconds, finishing with a 49.5% mark from the floor overall and 46.2% from behind the three-point line, but Milwaukee was able to do just enough defensively to create separation.

Porter had 16 points and seven assists while Portis had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Antetokounmpo had 32 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds while Brook Lopez (15), Kyle Kuzma (10) and Taurean Prince (10) also reached double figures.

“Coming in these last seven games we had an 0-4 record and we just wanted to flip the switch,” Porter said. “We know it’s playoff time, so we should be clicking on all cylinders.

“These last seven games has gave us that confidence going in. We just wanted finish the season off the right way.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo picks apart Pistons

The Bucks once again leaned on the playmaking and scoring ability of their best player as Antetokounmpo posted his fifth points and assists double-double and 4th triple-double in his last six games. It was also his 11th triple-double of the season, a career-high for a single campaign.

Antetokounmpo reached 10 assists in the first couple minutes of the second half and finished with 15.

“Oh, he was dominant,” Rivers said. “The 15 assists to me is what stands out. It just keeps getting unnoticed how well he’s passing the ball and being a playmaker. Before we put him at the point, but now it’s really standing out.”

He has averaged 11.8 per game (71) in that stretch, including a career-high 20 assists on April 3.

The Pistons forced his hand to a degree as they quickly sent double teams to him all over the court, but the Bucks made them pay as they cashed in 39 points on those assists.

“The people around him make it kind of easier for him,” Bobby Portis Jr. said. “You got good shooting around you; I feel like everybody got a 40 (three-point percentage) in here. Everybody shoot 40-something. When you got that much shooting around you, when guys want to put two on you you’ve got the right team to kind of make you pay for it. So, plenty of guys that can shoot the ball, plenty guys that can do a lot of different things with the ball, but when you have a good team around you that can shoot and make plays as well, kind of makes your job easier.”

Antetokounmpo also made his way to the rim, scoring 32 points on 11 of 22 shooting. He was also 10-for-11 from the free throw line.

Pistons guards nearly too much for Bucks

Milwaukee has struggled defensively over the course of its winning streak, and the Bucks had a difficult time with Pistons point guards Cade Cunningham and reserve Dennis Schröder in particular on Friday.

Kuzma, Porter, Gary Trent Jr. and others had their chances to slow down Cunningham but the former No. 1 overall pick had his way against any possible defense, scoring 36 points on an efficient 15-of-20 shooting, including 3 of 4 from behind the three-point line. He also handed out 11 assists and pulled down six rebounds.

And no doubt the Bucks were less than thrilled in having to deal with Schröder again, after the veteran scored 63 points on 61.7% shooting while going 12-for-19 from the free throw line in two games against Milwaukee when he played for Brooklyn earlier in the season. He also handed out 17 assists in those contests.

Schröder came off the bench and scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and handed out eight assists, giving Detroit a one-two punch that kept Milwaukee on its heels all night and gave the Pistons a chance to win down the stretch.

“Cade is just an unbelievable talent of course, so he’s going to have his nights. Dennis is a very smart, high IQ guard so just trying to speed ’em up – do the same thing they do to us,” Porter said. “Pickup 94 feet, try to harass them, make them exert energy and make it hard for them. Cade made a lot of tough shots, so did Dennis, but they were all tough ones. But we’ll take that. We’ll live with it.”

But, in the closing minutes, the Bucks were able to force the pair into crucial turnovers that led to buckets on the other end.

“We just was trying to lock in as much as we could to them and we got some steals, which lead to open threes, we got some other steals that lead to transition, easy layup,” Antetokounmpo said. “So we were happy about it.”

Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Duren have altercation

With 6:21 to go in the game, Porter was called for a Flagrant 1 foul on Pistons big man Jalen Duren, capping an emotional sequence of plays involving both players.

First, Porter Jr. threw down a massive one-handed dunk on Duren in the open court, leading to a flex from the Bucks guard. On the verry next possession, Duren leaned his shoulder hard into the upper chest and head area of Porter on a screen – which then caused Porter to chase Duren down the lane and earn the flagrant foul.

After the whistle, Duren and Trent got into a brief shoving match as the teams were separated.

It was the second altercation of sorts that Porter has been involved with in the last three games, as he and Minnesota center Rudy Gobert got tangled up and traded technical fouls on April 8.

“You warn ’em about it, just gotta be careful,” Rivers said. “I did think that that was an illegal screen. I think everybody but they thought it wasn’t. But OK. That’s gonna happen.”

Five numbers

• 2:
• Pistons backcourt violations caused by the Bucks.
• 17:
• Combined blocked shots by the teams. The referees, for the most part, let the teams play and each group wasn’t afraid to challenge, or be challenged, around the rim.
• 8-3: Bucks record with the starting lineup of Ryan Rollins and Taurean Prince in the back court and Kyle Kuzma, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez in the front court.
• 8-8: Bucks record in the second game of back-to-backs.
• 20-20: Bucks road record this season. They had not been .500 away from Fiserv Forum this season since starting the year 1-1 on Oct. 27. They were 18-22 on the road last season. From 2018-23 they were one of the best teams on the road in the NBA, compiling a 123-74 (62.4%) record away from Milwaukee.

Is Giannis playing?

Antetokounmpo will play, barring an unforeseen setback pregame. He is officially probable to play with pain in his left shoulder, but he was pulled after just 25 minutes of action in the Bucks’ win over New Orleans on Thursday night once the Bucks learned that Friday’s game turned into a must-win for seeding purposes.

Isaiah Stewart out for Pistons

Noted instigator – and arguably the heartbeat of the Pistons lineup – Isaiah Stewart will not play vs. the Bucks with inflammation in his right knee. He fouled out in 22 minutes off the bench for the Pistons in their win over New York on Friday, and the 6-foot, 8-inch, 250-pound big man is a physical presence and tone-setter. Just this season, he was ejected for a Flagrant 2 personal foul on Antetokounmpo during a game in Milwaukee on Nov. 13 and then was suspended two games for his role in a scuffle with Minnesota at the beginning of April.

Eastern Conference playoff picture

The entire league is playing Friday night, so heading into Friday’s games here is a look at the East playoff bracket:

• No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 8 Play-in team
• No. 4 Indiana Pacers vs. No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks
• No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 7 Play-in team
• No. 3 New York Knicks vs. No. 6 Detroit Pistons

Bucks injury report

• Damian Lillard, out (right calf deep vein thrombosis)
• Jericho Sims, out (right thumb surgery)
• Tyler Smith, doubtful (right ankle sprain)
• Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (left shoulder tendinopathy)

Bucks starting lineup

• Guards: Ryan Rollins, Taurean Prince
• Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyle Kuzma
• Center: Brook Lopez

Bucks vs. Pistons odds, over/under

Detroit is a 5.5-point favorite over Milwaukee, with the over/under set at 231.5 points per BetMGM.