Giannis Antetokounmpo came up huge for the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday as they mounted an epic come-from-behind victory against the Portland Trail Blazers. Milwaukee went all the way back from 26 points down to defeat Portland, 108-102, in what turned out to be the biggest comeback victory in the league this season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Saves the Day for Milwaukee Bucks
Giannis led a furious charge for the Bucks in the fourth quarter that saw them outscore their opponents 33-14. However, Milwaukee needed a couple more clutch plays from their talisman in the dying seconds.
With less than 30 seconds remaining and the game tied at 102-102, the Bucks drew up a play for Damian Lillard, who was playing against his former team for the first time since his offseason blockbuster move. After the win, Antetokounmpo shed some light on the crucial play:
“Misdirection, throw the ball back to Dame, high pick-and-roll with me and Dame,” Giannis said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “Dame coming off the screen. Portland is a team that is going to switch. That gives me an opportunity to go in front of the rim, kind of dive all the way to force the switch. At the end of the day, Dame, in those situations, he’s going to try to get his spot and do what he does, which is take us home.”
GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO TIPS IT IN FOR THE LEAD 😱
18.5 seconds left for the Blazers 👀pic.twitter.com/hthzLYRYGM
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 26, 2023
Dame ended up missing an open trey, which led to a scramble that ultimately resulted in Giannis tipping in a Bobby Portis missed shot to give Milwaukee a two-point advantage.
Giannis Doing It on Both Ends
The Blazers had a chance to tie the game after Giannis’ clutch deuce. Former Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon ended up getting matched up against Antetokounmpo one-on-one, which gave the former MVP an opportunity to flex his elite defensive skills to save the game:
⛔️ ΟΧΙ ΣΤΟ ΣΠΙΤΙ ΤΟΥ
Η clutch τάπα του @giannis_an34 στον Brogdon #NBASundays #GreekFreak pic.twitter.com/NQMUdObywr
— NBA Hellas (@nbahellas) November 26, 2023
Giannis knows his former teammate well, which gave Antetokounmpo a bit of an advantage over Brogdon — one that the former Defensive Player of the Year took full advantage of:
“You want to send him left. He’s a hard right driver, goes all the way,” Antetokounmpo said. “He kind of baits you that he’s going to go left and then goes quick to his right. Now, I knew that, but it’s kind of a shaky play because I want to contest the shot because I think were up two at that point, right?
“You want to contest the shot if he shoots a 3 because he’s a great shooter, but at the same time, you don’t want to give him so much space to drive to the hoop. And when he drives to the hoop, he has a great touch. You can foul him easily. So I’m happy that God blessed me with length and I was able to get my fingers on the ball and get the block, but at the end of the day, I knew that he wanted to go right, but thank God, I had great timing and I was able to deflect the shot.”
And that was the ballgame.
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