MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Bucks 114, Cavaliers 102: It's all Giannis, right from the opening dunk

Matt Velazquez
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

CLEVELAND - Giannis Antetokounmpo sat in the locker room at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Wednesday night stewing over what had been one of the least impactful performances of the Milwaukee Bucks star's career.

An MVP front-runner, Antetokounmpo scored a season-low 12 points on just seven shots, his fewest when playing 10-plus minutes since April 11, 2016. Worse than that, the Bucks were minus-31 points when he was on the court, something that had never happened in his career.

After never getting into a rhythm and being frustrated with every aspect of that night, Antetokounmpo channeled his feeling into fuel for Friday night when he became a one-man wrecking crew against the Cleveland Cavaliers. All told, Antetokounmpo finished with a career-high-tying 44 points to go with 14 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Bucks to a 114-102 win at Quicken Loans Arena.

BOX SCORE: Bucks 114, Cavs 102

“Obviously monster game from Giannis," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think he was ultra-aggressive. He’s a competitor, he wants to be great. I think any time he doesn’t meet the standards and expectations he sets for himself I think the next game he’s going to come out with a very aggressive mindset and he did that.”

In the day between games, Antetokounmpo and Budenholzer sat down together. They watched film and discussed where his shots were going to come from while striking the right balance between being aggressive looking for his own looks while setting up teammates.

Then, to start Friday's game, the Bucks ran a planned set to get Antetokounmpo the ball inside with an opportunity to score. He caught the pass, turned the corner and exploded to the rim for a dunk.

It went exactly as drawn up and Antetokounmpo's output snowballed from there.

With starters Khris Middleton (finger) and Malcolm Brogdon (left hamstring) out due to injury, Antetokounmpo carried the load on both ends throughout the night. His 44 points – tying his career high set on Oct. 21, 2017 against the Portland Trail Blazers – came on 14 of 19 shooting, most of them in the paint where the Cavaliers' depleted frontcourt had no answer. When his shots didn't fall it was often due to fouls, and he cleaned up at the free-throw line, making 16 of his 21 attempts.

"We know Giannis is going to go out and do his job and be focused every night," said Brook Lopez, who finished second on the team with 19 points. "I thought he did a great job of still attacking, drawing a lot of defenders and making decisions. Obviously, he finished strong, kept drawing fouls.”

Antetokounmpo might not have put up such gaudy numbers, but the pesky Cavaliers refused to go quietly. Led by a bench trio of Jordan Clarkson (23 points), Larry Nance Jr. (14 points) and Matthew Dellavedova (10 points), Cleveland time and again brought the margin down from double digits to an edge too close for comfort.

That meant less rest for Antetokounmpo because Cleveland's runs almost exclusively came in the 10 1/2 minutes he was off the court. The Bucks, with Middleton and Brogdon and with Budenholzer adjusting his rotation to include Donte DiVincenzo and Jaylen Morris while sitting Sterling Brown, just weren't the same without Antetokounmpo.

Late in the third quarter, Cleveland used a 10-0 run to turn a 17-point game on the edge of getting out of hand back into a close contest. That drew Antetokounmpo back to the court after a short rest.

What ensued was an Antetokounmpo trip to the line for two free throws and then a dunk following an offensive rebound. With their leader back, the Bucks used a 9-2 run to end the period and regain a firm grip on the game.

The Cavaliers again made a run, this time as the Bucks went ice cold from the field, missing 10 shots in a row early in the fourth. Cleveland got within two shots of the lead, but it was none other than Antetokounmpo, who with a dunk got Milwaukee's scoring back in gear and led the way down the stretch to the win, closing out the Bucks' scoring at the free-throw line.

Though the Bucks didn't always capitalize, going just 12 of 41 on three-pointers, Antetokounmpo was most talkative when it came to his passing – not his scoring – after Friday's victory. There are going to be plenty of nights when he will light up the scoreboard, but he believes his most valuable trait is passing and how he can set his teammates up for success with the pass.

“Since I was a little kid I wasn’t a good scorer, I wasn’t a good ball handler, I couldn’t rebound the ball well, but the only thing I could do is find open guys," Antetokounmpo said. "It’s something I’ve been working on my whole life. If a guy asked me right now what my talent is, that’s my talent; finding open guys, seeing over everybody on the floor and Coach Bud wants me to do that and I’m going to keep doing that all year.”