Bucks 113, Blazers 110: Giannis Antetokounmpo takes it up a notch with career-high night

Matt Velazquez
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks goes up for two of his career-high 44 points on Saturday night against the Trail Blazers at the Bradley Center.

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo does memorable things on a near nightly basis, but Saturday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers likely won't be one that's soon forgotten.

With 31.5 seconds left, Antetokounmpo missed a pair of free throws with his team trailing by a point, leaving both of them short. He'd already scored a career-high 42 points, but felt that he'd let his team down. He owed them one.

It's safe to say he more than made up for the misses. He owned the final 30 seconds of the game, scoring the game-winning basket and making a pair of critical defensive stops to carry the Bucks to a 113-110 victory in front of 16,211 fans at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

"That's what I do," Antetokounmpo said. "I missed two big free throws and I can't end the game like that."

With the Bucks trailing by one with 30.3 seconds left, Antetokounmpo dogged Blazers guard C.J. McCollum, poking away a steal. Malcolm Brogdon quickly corralled the ball and darted the pass to Antetokounmpo who was on the move and outran three Blazers defenders en route to throwing down a dunk to put Milwaukee ahead with 11.4 seconds left.

"My thought process was I've got to try to get a steal," Antetokounmpo said. "I wanted the game badly."

But he wasn't done.

Portland executed a pick-and-roll that left Jusuf Nurkic a seemingly solid look at the basket from close. That's when Antetokounmpo slid over, unseen by Nurkic, and swatted away the shot with his right hand. Khris Middleton secured the rebound and was fouled, knocking down a pair of free throws to bring him to 18 points on the night, the second-most on the team.

"I knew we were going to double team Damian (Lillard), right, so I know he's got to get the ball (out) and everybody's denying," Antetokounmpo said. "My guy's the furthest guy away, so the ball's going to go to Nurkic. Nurkic did not see me that I was coming and he went up and thankfully I was able to get a block without fouling."

With the Blazers out of timeouts, Brogdon stole their inbound pass heaved to halfcourt and that was it. M-V-P chants echoed until well after the game ended as Antetokounmpo earned the celebratory on-court interview.

BOX SCORE:Bucks 113, Trail Blazers 110

D'AMATO:Giannis Antetokounmpo needs help from teammates

NBA:Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, statistics

When he finally got to the locker room, his teammates were there waiting to celebrate with him. They gave him the game ball to commemorate his new career high of 44 points, which he scored on 17 of 23 shooting to go with eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.

 

He used a permanent marker to sign the ball and wrote these words upon it below his signature:

"This is for Daddy we got a win tonight and I got 44 points"

Giannis' father, Charles, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 54 on Sept. 29.

"It's special," Antetokounmpo said of receiving the ball from his teammates and dedicating it to his father. "Going forward I think that motivates me on a daily basis just playing hard for my family, especially for my dad because he loved to see us play. This is just the beginning. I'm not done yet. We've got 79 more games plus playoffs, hopefully. It's just the beginning. Hopefully, he's seeing us from above and he's proud of us."

Antetokounmpo's efficient outing carried the Bucks throughout the night. He catalyzed big runs throughout the game, beginning in the second quarter.

With the Bucks trailing by nine early in the second, Antetokounmpo was the one who started to turn things around. He came off the bench to score seven straight points to kick off what would become a 27-9 run over seven minutes. That spurt helped Milwaukee take a 60-55 lead into the second half.

Late in the third quarter, he did the same thing after a stretch on the bench. With the Bucks down by one with about 2 1/2 minutes left, he dished an assist to John Henson then scored six straight points — including his first three-pointer of the season — to ignite an 8-0 run.

NOTES: Kidd, Stotts feel differentlyaboutt shortened preseason

He then finished out strong with 17 fourth-quarter points, including the winning dunk, to carry the Bucks to the win.

When asked if Saturday was Antetokounmpo's best overall game, head coach Jason Kidd half-jokingly asked if that meant his best official game.

"We’ve seen him have pretty good practices," Kidd said. "He’s only getting better and stronger. We hold him accountable and to a very high standard.”

Along with 18 points from Middleton, Antetokounmpo got help from Tony Snell, who scored 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting, making his first seven shots before missing in the fourth quarter. Malcolm Brogdon added 13 points, six assists and four steals and Henson continued his strong start to the season with seven points, nine rebounds and three blocks over 24 minutes, the most among the Bucks' centers.

According to Middleton, lifting up Antetokounmpo is something the team has done off the court as well.

"Whenever you go through a tragedy like that you give it all for that reason," Middleton said. "That's what he's doing right now. He's doing a great job of just staying with it, fighting through whatever he's going through in his head. And he knows we're out there behind him, encouraging him and that we've got his back."

Portland was led by Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, who had 26 points each. As much as the Blazers tried to keep Antetokounmpo in check nothing worked. Antetokounmpo made drive after drive, showing an attacking mentality that's new this season.

"The difference is I don't have nothing to lose," Antetokounmpo said. "I play with that mentality. I don't have nothing to lose. I'm going to keep attacking, keep making plays, I'm going to turn the ball over, I'm going to miss shots, I'm going to airball shots, but at the end of the day I have nothing to lose. ...

"I'm going to do whatever it takes for my team to get a win. You know what I'm saying? I don't have nothing to lose. I'm going to keep playing hard, keep being humble and keep working on my craft and hopefully, I can be one of the best in the league in the future."

UP NEXT

Teams: Charlotte Hornets (1-1) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (2-1).

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center.

About the Hornets: Charlotte has not had its whole team together all season and that's not going to change anytime soon. Guard-forward Nicolas Batum will miss the first 8-12 weeks of the season with a sprained left elbow. Cody Zeller missed Friday's game (right knee bone bruise) and Michael Carter-Williams (knee soreness) has yet to play. Add to that the fact that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has been away from the team for personal reasons and it's no surprise that Charlotte has opened with a loss to the Detroit Pistons before beating the Atlanta Hawks. Rookie Dwayne Bacon has made the most of the extra opportunity, averaging 17.8 points per game.