-
Tim BontempsESPN
After Giannis Antetokounmpo hit a turnaround in the lane to tackle a personal 7-0 run and give his Milwaukee Bucks an unbeatable lead in an eventual 109-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night, he celebrated by sitting down in court inside the Wells Fargo Center of Philadelphia and staring straight into the camera with a smile on his face.
That smile remained standing as he stepped back into the commotion and as the few fans entered the building, Antetokounmpo collapsed with anger. But with a win in hand after a dominant performance – 32 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists within 43 minutes – the smile was still on Anteokounmpo’s face after the match when he was asked why he chose to celebrate like that.
“Is there anything wrong with having fun?” Antetokoumnpo said. “I think there’s nothing wrong with having fun. I just like to have fun. In the first half I did not have fun. I kind of, you know, talked to myself in the half and said : “No matter how bad the game is, you can not forget what to do, what fun. ‘
“I exaggerate a few times, of course, but I do not want to take anything back. I did not think, ‘Oh, I’m going to sit down.’ “I had fun. I talked to my teammates – I talked to them. I was just trying to be in the moment. But I was just having fun.”
It wasn’t nearly as much fun for the Sixers, who kept the Bucks up to 12-for-45 shooting overall in the first half, including 1-for-17 from 3-point series, and previously with as many as 19 points led. let it blow. Philadelphia fell out of first place in the East thanks to the Brooklyn Nets who won Wednesday night in Indiana.
Sixers center Dwight Howard in particular singled out Antetokounmpo’s celebration.
“I wanted to go to Stone Cold Stunner, but I’m already got one technology,” Howard said, referring to a move popularized by WWE wrestler Stone Cold’s Steve Austin. “It’s basketball. He wanted to have fun, but we’ll see these guys again. Today we allowed them to come into play again. We did it. We can not control it.
‘But he had a hell of a game. He hit some tough shots late in the game, reigning MVP, and he had a great game. I’m not someone who speaks trash or says negative, but we’ll see them again and that will be a different result. ‘
There was quite a lack of presence in this match: Six-star superstar Joel Embiid, who sat in the loafers and a hoodie on the sidelines and remained with a leg injury in his left knee, he was in a fell in a victory over the Wizards. But the energy and intensity of both sides was reminiscent of a play-off match, and it was a reminder of what would be in store in June, when these teams would be in the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference at the moment.
Still, the Bucks almost threw the game away and blew a seven-point lead in the last minute of regulation, thanks to Sixers guard Furkan Korkmaz, who hit a three-pointer by 0.4 seconds to put the score at 93. bond. That was when Antetokounmpo was rescued. Milwaukee in overtime.
Eventually, Milwaukee picks up the kind of hard, physical game on the road he will have to win this spring if he wants to break through for the first time since the 1970s and reach the NBA Finals.
“We knew we were playing offensively and missing shots,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. “But at the same time, we all stayed together, stayed positive and knew that there was still a lot of play left and that we would have a shot, as long as we kept defending and playing on the other side.
“At some point the game would turn around and we’re going to run, and luckily it did.”
This was largely due to Antetokounmpo’s heroic deeds. After Howard without exception made a long jump to level the score at 98 with 3:08 to lose overtime, Antetokounmpo passed on three consecutive balls – a hard left-hand drive for a lay-up; a pull-up 3-pointer; and the hesitation, turnaround in the lane – to go 105-98 with 1:12 left, all but to ensure the Bucks win.
“When the game starts, you try to get in your rhythm, but you do not walk in the right way. … It’s just hard to get in a rhythm,” said Antetokounmpo, who is 28 of his 32 scored points in the second point. half and overtime. “And the way I try to get into a rhythm is to get everyone involved. I try to move the ball a little bit, move my legs, move my body a little bit. But in the second half I wanted to.” a little more aggressive, but I knew I could not get right out of the gate and would be aggressive, but I had to slowly build up to it.
“But I tried to be aggressive … My teammates needed me to keep playing the right game, and they needed me to stay aggressive, so that’s what I was trying to do.”
The jokes also continued in Antetokounmpo’s Zoom call, because at one point he ordered a cheese steak – to make sure he got one with Cheese Whiz on it – and he was asked where he came up with the idea to to sit on the court.
“Guys, I have not seen it yet,” he said. “That was what I wanted to do at the time, and that’s what I did. I did not see it. But, like I said, I was just trying to have fun. Try to enjoy the moment.”
It turns out Antetokounmpo was not the only one who had never seen it.
“I was shocked to see him do it myself,” Middleton said with a laugh. ‘But I do not think it was out of any sign of contempt, although I know some people may accept it that way. He wants him to have fun these past weeks, months, whatever he wants.
“I’ve never seen it either, but I’m glad he did it with a smile after a rough patch in that game.”