Giannis Antetokounmpo did it all again for the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 against the Indiana Pacers but they still ended up losing.
The Greek Freak followed up his Game 1 output of 36 points with an all around game of 34 points, 18 rebounds, and seven assists but they were still unable to steal a win on the road.
The difference this time is that the final score was closer than the first one.
The team lost by just eight points. They got it close to two points at one point, something they were unable to do from the blowout loss two days ago.
Damian Lillard was the guy for doing that with 2:33 to go when he hit a three to cut the lead to 115-113.
However, the defense had lapses leading to two threes by the Pacers, one each from Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard.
The series now goes back to Wisconsin and the Bucks are feeling more desperate. Head coach Doc Rivers is confident they can turn things around.
For Giannis, he compares it to a life or death scenario.
“It’s not something that you have to panic, but also it’s not something that you have to be loose,” he said as quoted by The Athletic’s Eric Nehm.
“It’s life or death. It’s life or death. That’s how it is for me.”
Can Giannis Antetokounmpo and co turn things around?
There’s now way to go but up for the the Bucks and that is Antetokounmpo’s mindset right now.
They need to win the third one or else, it will be statistically impossible to move past the first round for them according to data.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit.
It is doable when you are down 0-2. In fact, the Bucks did it twice in 2021 en route to winning the NBA championship. They were down two games in the Eastern semis against the Brooklyn Nets and were in the same situation in the NBA finals against the Phoenix Suns.
However, when it comes to overall history, climbing from a 0-2 hole has low rate of chances.
Sports Illustrated said teams who go up by two games in a series advance 92.6 percent of the time.
Teams on the wrong end are 34–425 in total.
Bucks fans can find solace though in the fact that 22 out of 34 instances happened in the oughts. Bucks got two of those.
The Bucks-Pacers series will resume on Friday. This means Antetokounmpo and company will have 48 hours to figure things out and maybe save their season.
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