The Milwaukee Bucks suffered yet another loss on Wednesday, as they got crushed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, 122-102.
The result wasn’t entirely surprising. The Thunder are the best team so far in the 2025-26 NBA season by miles, while Milwaukee has struggled to find their footing and entered the contest (and remains) below .500 by several games.
Already playing without Myles Turner and Kevin Porter Jr., the Bucks did not put themselves in a better position either to pull off an upset against the reigning NBA champions, as Giannis Antetokounmpo had a less-than-usual diet of shots.
The 31-year-old Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 19 points on 8/11 shooting from the floor, but those numbers are way below his season averages of 28.2 points per game and 16.5 attempts from the floor per contest.
Over his last five games, the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo has averaged just 23.4 points per game in part because he took just 13.0 shots per outing.
Bucks star Antetokounmpo’s shot diet gets comment from his teammate
Milwaukee forward Bobby Portis shared his thoughts on how to get Antetokounmpo back to shooting more.
“I think setting screens in transition. When he had Lu Dort on him, setting the screen in transition, letting him get downhill versus another player,” Portis said (via Bucks Land).
“Obviously Lu Dort is a good defender, can guard 1 through 5, damn near everybody on the floor. Probably just wanted to get him off of him a little bit more, probably put him in more curl actions to the basket or screen-and-roll actions, just to get some easy ones. Sometimes as a player, if you can get a couple easy baskets, it kind of just helps your mental and your flow better. So, probably just getting in more action, just give him the ball, forreal, man just give him the ball.”
It will be interesting to see how many shots Antetokounmpo will put up when Milwaukee hosts the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
For More Great Wisconsin Sports Content
Follow me on Twitter at @theotherRobin19 and follow us @WiSportsHeroics for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
