Giannis Antetokounmpo has always played well against the Chicago Bulls. He did so again on Wednesday night, becoming just the 10th player ever to have multiple 40-20-5 games in his career. He is the only active player with multiple such games. Unfortunately, his legendary performance was not enough as the Milwaukee Bucks lost for the fourth straight time.
Giannis Antetokoumpo’s Legendary Performance
6th 40-point game of the season for Giannis.
45 PTS | 22 REB | 7 AST | 1 STL pic.twitter.com/xf1nPp4FB1
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 29, 2022
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 45 points in the Bucks’ loss to the Bulls. He was 17-39 from the field (0-3 from three) and 11-18 from the free throw line. Giannis also hauled down 22 rebounds, which is a career-high. Giannis also dished out seven assists and logged a steal.
Unfortunately, Giannis (and the Bucks in general) went cold in the fourth quarter and overtime. While the Greek Freak did lead all scorers, he was just 1-8 in overtime. Regardless, Giannis put up an absolutely historic stat line. This is not hyperbolic either. Giannis is just the third player since the NBA/ABA merger to have a 45-20-5 game:
We've seen a 45/20/5 statline 48 times in NBA history.
45 of those came between 1956-1976
Chris Webber did it in 2001
Luka and Giannis have now done it on back-to-back nights— Justin García 🎙 (@tmjgarcia) December 29, 2022
Luka Doncic, of course, put up one of the most ridiculous stat lines in NBA history on Tuesday night. He had 60 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Dallas Mavericks’ game against the New York Knicks. It was the first 60-20-10 game in NBA history.
The Bucks Were Without Two of the Big Three
Unfortunately, Giannis Antetokounmpo was the only one of the Bucks’ Big Three healthy for the game against the Bulls. Khris Middleton has been battling injuries all season and remains out for an undetermined amount of time. Jrue Holiday missed the game with an illness. The Bucks sure missed Holiday’s defense as Demar DeRozan scored 42 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists.
Other Key Performers for the Milwaukee Bucks
Double-double king.
20 PTS | 11 REB | 1 AST pic.twitter.com/b3zvG4oXI3
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 29, 2022
In addition to Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks got key contributions from Bobby Portis. Coming off of the bench, Portis scored 20 points on 7-18 shooting (3-7 from three). He also had 11 rebounds, good for his 19th double-double of the season. 19 double-doubles is good for the fourth most in the NBA. The only other players ahead of him are as follows:
- Nikola Jokic: 24
- Domantas Sabonis: 24
- Giannis Antetokounmpo: 20
Not only does Portis have the most double-doubles of any bench player in the NBA, he is also averaging a double-double as well. So far this season, Portis is averaging 13.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Those 10.0 rebounds per game are his career high.
Other Bucks Players Struggled
Unfortunately, it was Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, and no one else putting up good performances against the Bulls. Giannis, of course, led the team with 45 points. Portis was the team’s second-highest scorer with his 20 points. After them, Brook Lopez had 14 points (5-12 shooting, 0-4 from three) and Grayson Allen had 13 points (4-16 shooting, 3-14 from three). No other Bucks player scored more than eight points.
As a team, the Bucks shot just 37.3% from the floor and a woeful 20.5% from three. The simple fact of the matter is that they won’t many games shooting like that.
Milwaukee will look to write the ship on Friday when they finally return home to face the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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