The Milwaukee Bucks got back to winning ways on Thursday night after a hard-fought 114-105 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at the Fiserv Forum. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the charge for the Bucks yet again with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists in 37 minutes of action.
It was a relatively easygoing evening for the former back-to-back MVP who went 9-of-12 from the field (and 14-of-18 from the charity stripe) against a Joel Embiid-less Sixers defense.
These types of games come far and few in between for Antetokounmpo, who recently admitted that this has been the toughest season he’s ever had to play through thus far.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Vocal on Difficulties of Campaign
Giannis recently sat down with Sam Amick of The Athletic on a lengthy tell-all interview. One of the biggest revelations from the eight-time All-Star is how difficult his life has been this season amid all the changes the Bucks have gone through over the past 10 months:
“Yeah, it’s … it’s … it’s hard. I feel like for me, this has been the hardest season that I’ve played — not only physically, because I had the procedure done on my left knee in the end of June. And I had to get back to myself,” Giannis said. “I feel like when the season started, I wasn’t (myself). And the reason was that I hadn’t played basketball until like the second week of training (camp). I had to get back to being by myself. But emotionally, and mentally, it’s been draining. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s been extremely tough, from Coach Bud (Mike Budenholzer) being let go (after the Bucks fell to Miami in the first round of the playoffs) to Coach Griff (Adrian Griffin) coming in, being let go, then (interim) Coach Joe (Prunty) for three games, Coach Doc (Rivers) coming in, and then you have Dame. It’s been tough. But at the end of the day, I think when you face adversity in life, that’s when you excel the most. So I’m just trying to, as a leader, as a basketball player, as a person, just trying to do what I do, keep on enjoying the game of basketball, keep on hanging in there, keep on trying to improve my game, doing the right thing. And hopefully, step by step, I get where I want to go and I’m able to help the team get where we want to go.”
Is Antetokounmpo now feeling the toll of what has been a burdensome decade-long career? That’s possible.
However, based on his statement here, it is clear that Giannis isn’t going to let all this bring him down. The 29-year-old has his eyes fixed on the ultimate goal, which is to bring home another championship to Milwaukee. Until he achieves that objective, don’t expect this man to slow down one bit.
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