One of the biggest storylines stemming from the Milwaukee Bucks’ 122-114 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday was the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo locked down Jimmy Butler all night long. This was the first time Giannis was matched up against the Heat talisman after several years — a prospect that the former back-to-back MVP enjoyed tremendously.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Reacts to Jimmy Butler Matchup
It’s not that Giannis and Butler haven’t shared the court for the past couple of years. In fact, these two have battled on more than a few occasions. However, the Bucks have opted not to pair Antetokounmpo with Butler on the defensive end, letting their other wing defenders match up against the Heat’s best player.
Monday night was different, though, and Giannis expressed how pleased he was with this development:
“I feel like I’ve been, at times, I’ve been protected,” Antetokounmpo said, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I think like a lot of players around the league when you have the superstar, the best player, they kind of like protect them. They have them guard like the guy that’s not super aggressive so he doesn’t get in foul trouble, he doesn’t waste his energy on defense. But for me, I believe I’m one of the best two-way players to ever play this game and I want to have that challenge.
“… I’m happy. I’m happy that Coach is allowing me to take that challenge and I hope I can be good for my teammates.”
Did Antetokounmpo just take a veiled shot at former head coach Mike Budenholzer here? It seems that the Bucks talisman wasn’t too pleased by the fact that he was “protected” and was not allowed to defend opposing teams’ best players.
Giannis even made special mention of new coach Adrian Griffin, thanking the first-year shot-caller for giving him a chance to show us what he can do on the defensive end against an elite offensive player.
Let’s not forget that apart from being one of the most dominant players on the offensive end, Antetokounmpo also happens to be one of the top defenders this game has ever seen. Once in a while, it’s good for us to be reminded of this fact.
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