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Giannis Antetokounmpo powered the Milwaukee Bucks to a 114-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. The Greek Freek had another dominant performance to lead the Bucks in sweeping their season series against their fellow Eastern Conference contenders.
The Bucks had lost three of their last four games heading into tonight, the latest being a 35-point spanking by the Sacramento Kings on March 12.
But Giannis Antetokounmpo had a massive night, scoring 32 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out seven assists to help capture the Bucks win.
Antetokounmpo’s big night came at the right time as Damian Lillard had an underwhelming night, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
It was the Greek Freak’s 39th 30-point game of the season, which matched his record from last season for the most such games in a single season.
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He has the opportunity to break his record as the Bucks still have 15 games remaining in the regular season.
Look at Giannis Antetokounmpo’s box score below:
Brook Lopez was also huge for the Bucks tonight, scoring 19 points and drilling five triples. AJ Green provided 14 points off the bench.
For the 76ers, Tyrese Maxey led the way with 30 points, while Tobias Harris, Cam Payne and Kyle Lowry had 15, 13 and 12 markers, respectively.
Giannis Antetokounmpo says this season is his ‘hardest’ to date
In an interview with Sam Amick, Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed that the 2023-24 season has been the most challenging for him in his 11 years in the league.
"I feel like for me, this has been the hardest season that I've played—not only physically, because I had the procedure done on my left knee in the end of June,” he said.
“I feel like when the season started, I wasn't [myself]. And the reason was that I hadn't played basketball until like the second week of training [camp]. I had to get back to being by myself. But emotionally, and mentally, it's been draining. I'm not going to lie to you."
The Bucks currently occupy the third spot in the Eastern Conference with a 42-24 record, but their position does not reflect the turbulent season they have had so far.
Before the season, they saw the departure of assistant coach Terry Stots, and they fired their Adrian Griffin just before the All-Star break.
Now under Doc Rivers, the team has been shaky so far, but Antetokounmpo said he is ready for the adversity and will try to power through any challenge.
"It's been tough," Antetokounmpo said. "But at the end of the day, I think when you face adversity in life, that's when you excel the most."
"So I'm just trying to, as a leader, as a basketball player, as a person, just trying to do what I do, keep on enjoying the game of basketball, keep on hanging in there, keep on trying to improve my game, doing the right thing.”
