Giannis Antetokounmpo has stacked up many accomplishments in his 12 NBA seasons and played numerous impressive games, but in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 126-113 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, on Thursday he did something no one has ever done. Antetokounmpo finished with 35 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists.
“When you’re the primary ballhandler, you just gotta keep on making good decisions for the team,” said Antetokounmpo, who set a career high with the 20 assists. “I feel like most of the time, I try to make the best decision for myself or for my teammates.”
While Antetokounmpo complimented his team’s spacing and his teammates’ ability to knock down shots while downplaying the accomplishment, his teammates made sure everyone understood just how impressive it was to see him do something no player has ever done in an NBA game.
“This just being another one of those crazy, seems-almost-normal-which-is-ridiculous type of statistical nights, just speaks volumes to the type of player he is,” Pat Connaughton said. “And who he is to this team, who he is to the city of Milwaukee and who he is to the NBA.”
“There’s only a select few in the history of the NBA that can do something and make it look like it was done so easily and continue to consistently do things to that level. It’s an all-time performance. It’s an all-time player.”
Struggling with the absence of point guard Damian Lillard, coach Doc Rivers told reporters that the Bucks (42-34) have turned to using Antetokounmpo as a “point forward” and letting the two-time MVP control everything the team does offensively. With that change, the Bucks have worked on doing a better job spreading the floor and giving Antetokounmpo the space he needs to operate as a scorer, but that same space can be used to make teams pay for sending extra help in his direction.
On Thursday, Antetokounmpo’s teammates scored 50 points on his 20 assists. Add those 50 to Antetokounmpo’s 35, and he accounted for 67.5 percent of the Bucks’ points in the win.
“Doc mentioned this morning and has been mentioning it that Giannis has to think more like a point forward and he’s already built like that, so it’s not too much of a challenge for him,” said Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham, who took over for Rivers after the head coach needed to leave the bench because of an illness. “It’s just now him understanding the organization, making sure we’re in the right spots, making sure our timing is on point and the ball is moving when it’s supposed to, on time and on target.”
Despite leaving early, Rivers was credited with his 1,156th career victory, passing Phil Jackson for seventh on the all-time coaching wins list.
For Antetokounmpo, seeing a familiar foe helped as well. In his first MVP season, the Bucks played the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals, where then-Raptors coach Nick Nurse popularized the idea of building a wall against Antetokounmpo and sending help as often as possible to make it uncomfortable while Antetokounmpo tried to create for himself and others.
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