Giannis goes off for career-high 55 points
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday returned to the lineup for the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum, and the pair lifted the Bucks to a 123-113 victory over the Washington Wizards. The Bucks improved to 24-13 in snapping the five-game winning streak of the Wizards (17-22).
Here are some takeaways from the game:
Giannis sets career high with 55 points
The Bucks superstar didn’t make league history Tuesday night, in that his streak of 40-point, 20-rebound, 5-assist games ended at two (only Elgin Baylor ever had more than that). So in that context, a career-high 55-point effort to go with 10 rebounds and 7 assists was merely… dominant.
Before the game, Washington head coach Wes Unseld Jr. called Antetokounmpo a handful to deal with defensively but the Bucks star proved to be more than that. He met very little resistance to the rim once in the open court… or setting up in the half court… or after establishing position in the post. He weaved his way through multiple defenders, scooted around individual efforts and powered over others.
He admitted he was trying to be aggressive but started rusty with three first-quarter turnovers after not playing since Dec. 30, but “as the game was going on I was getting my rhythm, going downhill, getting in the paint and getting to my spots and just trying to create, trying to create as much as possible for myself and for my teammates.”
Of his 20 made field goals, just one came from outside of just a few feet of the rim – yet only four of those remaining 19 made shots were dunks.
Antetokounmpo entered the game as the league’s third-leading scorer at 32.1 points per game – far and away a career high – but even he’s made that number look pedestrian of late. He averaged 33.1 points in December. He’s averaged 39.7 points per game over his last seven games.
He had 36 by the end of the third quarter Tuesday.
When Antetokounmpo reached the 40-point threshold on a basket with 8:53 to go in regulation, he set a career best and tied a franchise mark by doing it for the third straight game (Flynn Robinson in 1969 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972).
Antetokounmpo also hit that number five times in his last seven games.
“I think he’s been playing with this kind of determination, this kind of just willing us in games,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said.
He reached 50 points with a threepoint play with 3:27 to go to put the Bucks up 116-104, a lead they were able to maintain to close out the feisty Wizards. He nearly brought the roof down with a dunk attempt at 2:32, but the ball went down with such force it popped back out.
He tied his career high of 52 (set March 17, 2019 against Philadelphia) and surpassed it with a free throw - his 15th make on his 16th attempt. The accomplishment was announced during a timeout, which drew a smile from the Bucks star.
“I just work on it as much as I can,” he said of his free throws. “It’s something I need to get better on. I’m not satisfied where I am right now. I just try to get as many extra reps as I can, before the game, the day before the game, after the game, anytime I have the opportunity to just rep, rep it out, I take it.”
Antetokounmpo ended the night with a dance following a strip-steal of Kristaps Porziņģis and layup with 1:23 to go for 55 points. It was his fourth career 50-point game in the regular season, the last coming against Indiana on Feb. 15, 2022 – an effort that left those who have seen him do special things on a nightly basis for years searching for the right descriptors.
“He’s just been phenomenal,” Budenholzer said. “He... yeah... it’s just hard to come up with all the words to describe him. So, incredibly special tonight.”
Teammate Brook Lopez rubbed his face repeatedly.
“I’m going to have to use foreign languages,” he said. Lopez used two Japanese words before settling, simply, on bravo.
“So I suppose he deserves a ‘bravo,’ right?” Lopez continued. “Gee whiz. He’s just on whol ’nother level. He’s been carrying us for however many games we’ve had.”
Holiday returns after illness
It had been a tough month for the Bucks as a team and for Holiday, who missed six of the team’s 16 games from Dec. 2-Jan. 1, including five with an illness. He returned from a three-game absence Tuesday, playing 19 minutes off the bench.
“It felt good, it felt good to play again – it’s always good to do what you love,” he said. “Being able to get on the court and feel the energy is great. But sometimes when you’re on minute restrictions and then you gotta sit and come back, I think that kind of affects you a little bit.”
But the point guard has been dealing with illnesses ranging from tonsillitis to the flu since the season began, really, appearing on the injury report Nov. 2 and again Nov. 25 before finally being held out of play Dec. 13-15.
“I’m not really the type to complain or give it (as) an excuse, but yeah, I feel like I could definitely be better health-wise,” he began with a resigned chuckle. “For me, I’ve always fought through. That was probably part of my problem this time. I usually fight through and bounce back.
“I think the first time I got sick was around the Detroit game, when we played them twice (Oct. 31 and Nov. 2). Thanksgiving I was also sick. I had tonsillitis. But like, I mean, honestly you feel like you play through it. People get sick and you still gotta go to work, you know what I mean?”
Holiday may not have been at full capacity in terms of the minutes he normally plays, but he had an impact by defending Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma while hitting a couple of much-needed three-pointers in the early going.
Bucks even up with Wizards bigs
Washington’s 7-foot-3 forward Porziņģis was named the Eastern Conference player of the week for his play from Dec. 23-30, and then he followed that with a 22-point, five-rebound performance against the Bucks in the Wizards’ win Sunday. On Tuesday, the Bucks didn’t exactly shut him down, but the Washington big man didn’t get as much help from his teammates as he did in Sunday’s game.
“It’s one of the beauties of the way the NBA is doing it now, you play a team a second time, there’s I think a familiarity,” Budenholzer said. “We certainly wanted to try and make it more difficult for them in the paint, more difficult for Gafford around the rim. And it’s really nothing more than Brook’s pride.”
Porziņģis had 13 first-half points on 4 of 7 shooting, but fellow big man Daniel Gafford was neutralized (3 points) after scoring the game’s first basket.
Washington’s all-star guard Beal (3 for 7, 8 points) was slowed by Holiday and company before missing the second half with a hamstring injury. Beal’s departure revitalized Gafford and reemphasized the Wizards’ desire to get into the Bucks’ paint.
Milwaukee led Washington in paint scoring, 26-24, at halftime – but it was a number that ballooned for each team in the second half: 48-46 Washington after three and 66-60 in favor of the Bucks at the finish.
Gafford finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Porziņģis ended his night with 22 points. Unlike Sunday in which some early foul trouble affected Milwaukee’s rotations, the Bucks got a big effort from Lopez, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds.
“They were great in the paint the previous game and so it was definitely a focal point,” Lopez said. “And that’s something I take pride in myself and we take pride in as a team, so it was great to get back to that and seal off the paint and be who we are.”
Bobby Portis added 17 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.