Giannis: “The Word ‘Rest’ is Not in My Dictionary”

The Milwaukee Bucks fans can relax. Giannis Antetokounmpo is all right, and the frontrunner for the MVP award is looking great.

All those fears about his ankle injury, which has been repeatedly renewed in recent times, disappeared last night. Giannis played 30 minutes against the Brooklyn Nets, and he was looking great on the floor.

The Bucks won, 131-121, and reached their 58th win of the campaign, getting closer to officially clinching the top spot in the NBA.

Giannis contributed with 28 points and 11 rebounds, and not so shining shooting percentage, 9 of 23 from the field.

“Just trying to get back into the rhythm,” he said during the interview in front of the locker room. “I didn’t play the last game, and I was just trying to wait for the game to come to me.”

Greek Freak skipped two games this March after hurting that same ankle against Philadelphia, and coach Budenholzer wanted to spare him from additional efforts against the Hawks. That immediately reflected upon Bucks’ performance, and they lost in Georgia. After this situation, there was no doubt for No.34 whether he would play against the Nets.

“Coach Bud is doing a great job of resting the players and allowing them to take a break,” Antetokounmpo said and then told his view on skipping games. “I want to play every game. You know, the word rest is not in my dictionary.”

The Nets were eager to compete at Barclays Center this Monday night. They are in a tough position too. At the moment Kenny Atkinson’s team is seventh in the East, with half a game behind the Detroit Pistons who are at place No.6. Meanwhile, the Orlando Magic, who is the first team outside the playoff picture is one game behind Brooklyn, so you might sense what kind of pressure was on these guys.

That is why one of the reporters asked Giannis did he felt that the game was played in an atmosphere similar to the one in the playoffs.

“Yeah, it definitely did. Brooklyn is a great team. They’re fighting for their spot also.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6pYGyEra_U

Milwaukee was playing good in the first period, having a double-digit lead, but Nets came back in the next 12 minutes.

The third quarter of this encounter was especially interesting, with 16 lead changes. Still, the Bucks managed to be ahead two points, 91-89.

It was Giannis who scored 7 of Milwaukee’s 10 points in the 10-2 run which opened the final quarter, and led the guests to a double-digit lead again, 101-91. Those were the moments when he convinced all that the injury is already forgotten.

The Bucks never looked back again, and closed the game convincingly.

There are four more matches until the end of the regular season for Antetokounmpo and his company. Against the Sixers is the only one on the road. After that they have the Nets again, only this time at Fiserv Forum, against Atlanta once more too, and the last one with OKC.

If they beat the 76ers in Philly this Thursday, this generation will become the first one since 1973-74 season which had the best result in the league after the regular part of the season.

Back then they had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as their leader, who also won the MVP award. This might be a sort of history repeating stuff, but the only thing which isn’t as most of their fans would have wanted, is the fact that Bucks lost that year against Boston in the Finals, 4-3.

With the current situation, the Celtics might be their opponents in the second round. That would be a perfect chance to get even for the last year’s elimination in seven games and to clear Boston from the history equation.

Since Giannis came into the league, Milwaukee played in the offseason three times, and on each occasion, they lost in the first round. But they never had a home court advantage, like now. And to be honest, they never had Giannis like this.

So this might be a completely new experience for the Bucks.