Giannis Antetokounmpo put forth another all-around performance for the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night. The former back-to-back MVP flexed his playmaking prowess in this one, collecting 13 assists to go along with his 33 points and seven rebounds.
It still wasn’t enough, though, as the Utah Jazz used a 40-13 fourth-quarter run to defeat Giannis and Co. In the end, Utah logged their first win in four games, 123-108.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Reveals One of the ‘Toughest Things’ He’s Had to Deal With As a Leader
Antetokounmpo was understandably disappointed after the Bucks lost for a third time in four games. They were coming off a big win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, but it’s as if all their momentum went out the window with this deflating loss to the Jazz.
For his part, Antetokounmpo knew that it was necessary for him to get his teammates involved in this one. That’s exactly what he did all game long, and it worked wonders for the Bucks — at least for the first three quarters. Giannis kept on feeding his teammates in the fourth but suddenly, their shots just wouldn’t fall.
“I think that’s one of the toughest things of being a leader,” Antetokounmpo said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “Like do you take it upon yourself or do you keep on trusting the process and trust the system and trust what we’ve been doing all game? And there’s some times that you have to do that and there’s some times that you just gotta trust.”
At one point in the final frame, Jae Crowder missed three consecutive attempts from deep. All three were good looks, but they just failed to find the bottom of the net.
“I feel like the whole game, guys were wide open,” Giannis continued. “They were showing so much help. And guys, like the whole game, we had wide open shots, and early in the game, we made a few of them. And late in the game, we couldn’t make nothing. But the approach doesn’t change. You have to keep on playing the right way. And I think we played that way. We just missed a lot of shots in the last eight minutes.”
Indeed they did. However, Giannis never lost his trust in his teammates throughout their drought. If that’s not a sign of an outstanding leader then I don’t know what is.
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