To say that Giannis Antetokounmpo was delighted with Damian Lillard’s heroics for the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night would be an understatement. The former back-to-back MVP was the first to congratulate Dame after the latter hit the game-winner in overtime to lead the Bucks to a 143-142 victory.
Apparently, Giannis got so excited that he nearly choked out his own teammate.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Details Epic Celebration After Damian Lillard’s Game-Winner
A giddy Antetokounmpo spoke to reporters after the game to reveal just how excited he was during the moment:
“It was fun,” Antetokounmpo said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “After he hit the shot, everything was like slow-motion.”
Giannis had much more to say about the celebrations that followed Lillard’s epic moment, including how Antetokounmpo busted out some of Dame’s most memorable cellies through the years:
“He started doing this,” Antetokounmpo continued with a smile, pointing to his wrist to re-enact Lillard’s signature Dame Time celebration. “I think I grabbed him, but I grabbed him hard, you know? I don’t know if I was like suffocating him, but I grabbed him really hard.”
“I was doing this,” Antetokounmpo said as he pointed to his wrist.
“Then, I was doing this,” Antetokounmpo said as he waved goodbye by opening and closing his hand, just as Lillard had done after hitting a stepback 3 over Paul George to eliminate the Oklahoma City Thunder from the 2019 NBA playoffs.
Needless to say, Giannis knows all about Lillard’s history of clutch-time heroics.
Giannis then went on to confess that he caught himself off-guard with how overjoyed he was during the celebrations. The former back-to-back MVP, however, has no regrets whatsoever:
“I went out of character, but it’s fun, man,” Antetokounmpo explained. “We gotta live life hard. And that’s what we did tonight.
“Everybody was happy for the shot. I don’t think we had to put ourselves in a position to get to that shot, but I’m so happy that this guy made it, and everybody was happy and everybody celebrated, and everybody had a smile on. So we’ve won three in a row. We’re playing good basketball. Hopefully, we can keep it up.”
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