The Bucks fell behind early at home against Boston on Monday and never recovered, eventually getting blown out by a score of 108-81. Still, the team was encouraged to have star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo back on the court. The two-time MVP had 19 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes and said after the game that he felt good, albeit a “little bit rusty,” per Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“It doesn’t matter if I play 18 minutes, 20 minutes, 22, whatever, I’m just happy that I’m out there,” said Antetokounmpo, who missed the previous 15 games due to a strained calf. “I’m just in a mindset where I try not to take nothing for granted. Obviously, did not play well tonight, but at the end of the day, I’m just happy that I’m out there being able to help my teammates in any way that I can and just do what I love, which is play basketball.”
That 15-game layoff represented the longest absence of Antetokounmpo’s 13-year career, and he’s on track to play his fewest games in a season since he entered the league. The 31-year-old observed on Monday that he has made a habit over the course of his career of beating his projected recovery timelines and returning from injuries early, but acknowledged that it’s a habit he might have to get away from in his 30s.
“Like, OK, yeah, hurt my groin, had to be out three weeks, four weeks, came back in like 10 days,” Antetokounmpo said, per Nehm. “But I’m 31 years old, just gotta be able to be more smarter moving forward because things that I was able to do in the past, maybe I’m not able to do now. And I’ve just gotta be more methodical with my rehab, the way I take care of my body, the way that I play, but yeah, that’s pretty much it. Moving forward, I just gotta be smarter.
“… I’m not 24 years old anymore. I’m 31. I’m still 31 years old. It’s not like I’m 36 or 37. But yeah, when you deal with a lot of soft tissue injuries, it’s hard. … If you’re not able to take care of your soft tissue injuries, they can linger. And I think that’s what has happened this year. I feel like I’ve been playing the whole year with like a deficit.”
We have more on the Bucks:
- Kyle Kuzma had the best game of his season in December at home vs. the Celtics when he scored 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting, but the veteran forward received a DNP-CD in Monday’s matchup with Boston. As Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes, Kuzma’s DNP-CD was one of a few changes head coach Doc Rivers made to his rotation, as relative newcomer Ousmane Dieng entered the starting lineup and veteran wing Gary Harris saw his first extended stretch of playing time in several weeks.
- Dieng scored 13 points in a team-high 30 minutes on Monday, and Rivers sounded impressed by what he has seen through 10 games from the former lottery pick, Owczarski adds. “I loved what ‘Ous’ did,” Rivers said after the loss. “This young kid, we gotta give him as many minutes as we can while we’re trying to win games.”
- The two-way contract that guard/forward Cormac Ryan signed with the Bucks last week is a two-year deal, Hoops Rumors has learned. That means Milwaukee will have the option of hanging onto Ryan through the 2026/27 season before he becomes eligible for restricted free agency, though teams’ two-way slots typically undergo significant turnover each offseason.
This for Chucktoad1 ——
link to basketball.com.au
link to hoopshype.com
link to nba.com
link to basketball-reference.com
Most agree here that TD and KG are PFs. Even though most of their careers tgey played the 5. Look it up. Even if you played the 5 most of your career. Like Bam or Amare imo doesn’t make you a 5. Just a 4 playing the 5. A scheme doesn’t change your game. Bam may be Heats center. But his game is all PF …….
Just like Dirk, Malone, Hayes, Barkley, Giannis .
Fact Duncan and KG are rim protectors. Should tell you they are centers. No PF is a rim protector. Only centers are true rim protectors. 4s can help on D. They aren’t rim protectors. Defenses are built around rim protectors. They anchor that defense.
So my man Chuck —- tell me who here is better than Giannis. And keep in mind Giannis still has 7 plus yrs to go. No one on this list is a better defender. Even if you use KG and TD. Giannis eventually can pass them both on D. Offensively he is already a better scorer than both. Giannis can handle the ball better than anyone on this list. He has more ast than anyone on
List 5.5 ast. Right now he is 47th in scoring. In three yrs he will be top 20 all time. By the time he retires he will be top 5 all time. Only Wilt can be considered as great a 2way player. Even better cause of his dominance. Get use to it lol. Only KD comes close as a 4. Because of his scoring. Giannis will chase him in scoring. Giannis is greatness walking among us. Like Bron, KD, Curry one of a Kind. Show some respect lol.
All that reasoning and Giannis’ stats show the Milwaukee owners and front office staff they had better keep their SuperStar and just build around him. Take him at his word that he’s loyal and wants to stay in Milwaukee. Not listen to today’s rapturous voracious media!
No PFs except Duncan, Garnett, Anthony Davis, Ibaka, Hayes, Nance and Rasheed Wallace can defend the rim. (There’s quite a few more but you get my point? Power Forwards can indeed protect the rim.) Duncan and Garnett played PF for most of their careers not center. They both played next to other players that were true centers. I’m not arguing that Giannis is better offensively than Garnett, but you have to take into account that in the modern game has a much faster pace.
Duncan has 15 all defense selections. 15! Giannis will never touch Duncan on defense. I’ve repeatedly said Giannis is the second best two way PF and top 5 PF of all time. How am I not showing him respect?
No no no. Rasheed wasn’t a rim protector. Mitch is a rim protector. Sheed can play center. But he wanted no part of contact. Dude stop with the grasping fir straws. Getting blocks cause you play offside D. No e of these players can guard the perimeter. And they sre 4s. That’s how good Giannis is. He changed the game like Dirk, like Curry, Like Harden. Giannis has even played the point lol.
Greatest 4s EVER by experst … so called ????
Malone, Dirk, Hayes, Duncan (played 70% of mins as a center. KG (as Celtic only played Center. His career was spentas C 90% of time. So how is KG or TD 4s. I don’t care if you use them. Neither is better than Giannis. Giannis can guard KD. Who here could ????? Dirk, Duncan, KG, Malone, Hayes ????
Sheed, without question, was a high quality rim protector.
I’m not sure what started this pissing match, but Giannis is not really comparable to front court players who did not bring the ball up the court and initiate offense. KG and Duncan are apples to oranges, meaningless comparisons. Giannis is a point forward, full stop.
I think the closest comps you have to Giannis are Barkley, Pippen and maybe Grant Hill, though all three were better shooters and only Barkley is on the level of Giannis as a rebounder.
He’s a Giannis hater. I said Giannis will go down as greatest PF ever. Already the best 2way PF imo.
Only a center can anchor a defense. Sheed was a good shot blocker. Cause he was weaside help. But he didn’t like playing center lol.
Giannis has no half court game, essentially, at least as a primary playmaker. He can be slowed down/even shut down in the playoffs against actual good defense. Only reason he has a championship is b/c of Monty Williams, and then Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday being that guy in those half court situations
No hostility towards Giannis, but he also has a lot of time left in his career. Also, their best lineups that year were Giannis at smallball 5 or next to Portis, at least in multiple playoff rounds, especially the finals
Yeah that’s funny —— two time MVP got no half court game. Do you watch basketball lol. How does he get his 25 a gm over 13 yrs. You funny.
He has avg 28 pts a gm over 74 playoff career games. Yeah you funny lol.
Rasheed Wallace allowed between 43-47% shooting at the rim in his career, and as low as 41% from close range. He was an absolutely elite rim protector; those would be top of the league type numbers, and also would be significantly better than Mitchell Robinson, who was a blocks chaser the first few years of his career
He didn’t play center most of his career. So means his blocks come from weakside. Thats funny Sheed allowed ….. he wasn’t Pistons premier defender. Wallace was. He backed him ip. In Portland 8 yrs. He avg 1.3 blks per game. Where did you get that made up stat. We don’t look at team stats. The best shot blockers in history are over 3 a game. Sheed never avg more than 1.6 and that was due to Pistons team defense. He was NEVER a premier shot blocker. Just part of a great D team in Detroit. He has a career shot blocking of 1.3 a gm. D White of Celtics is avg 1.5 blk per game lol. What you saw Sheed play a few good games lol. Go look up the premier shot blockers . They are all true centers. Something Sheed didn’t want to do. He was softer than KAT lol.
Towns avg 1.1 for career Sheed 1.3. Please
Really strange to me to see a player who had a great game against some other team not to play in a rematch. Disregarding good matchups?
Chucktoad1 Rim protectors are defensive anchors. Its not about getting a block or two. Defenses are built around rim protectors. Blocking shots doesn’t make you a rim protector. Plus our discussion is about 4s. Not rim protectors. Lets just agree to disagree. Giannis to me will go down as greatest 4 ever.imo he already is greatest 2way 4 ever. And you can take who you want at the 4.
Quit hating on Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.
OK ….. sorry but I see them as 5s. If Bam and Amare are 5s. Then KG andTD are too imo.