Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo gets brutally honest on stinking vs. top East teams
01/13/2025 12:18 PM
As Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to break records, the team has struggled when facing top teams in the Eastern Conference. Despite some recent moves to find consistency as the Bucks moving Khris Middleton to the bench, they still have yet to knock off a top team in the East as Antetokounmpo was candid in his thoughts about their performances.
After Milwaukee lost to the New York Knicks in blowout fashion on Sunday night, 140-106, this now puts the team’s record at 0-8 against the top three teams in the conference. Antetokounmpo was straight up saying that they are “horrible” when facing the top three East teams and had a message for himself and the team according to ESPN.
“Yeah, we’re horrible (against those teams),” Antetokounmpo said. “We’ve gotta get our stuff together. It’s as simple as that. We did not beat Boston, we did not beat the Cavs, we didn’t beat the Knicks, those are the top three teams, and we’ve played horribly against them.”
Though the Bucks have been in trade speculation involving Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, the team has turned it around ever since the beginning of the season when they were 2-7. Ironically, that was after being routed by the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, but Antetokounmpo is confident that they are better now than several months ago.
“I think we’re a way better team [now] than the November team. We’ve proven it by playing good basketball for longer stretches,” Antetokounmpo said. “But at the end of the day, when we’re playing the better teams, we’ve got to do a better job. They’re not just going to give it to us — we’ve got to take it. They’re not just going to fold.”
Bucks need to beat top East teams to show they belong
In the contest against New York, the 30-year-old star finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds while his Bucks partner in crime in Damian Lillard had 22 points and five assists. The former Portland Trail Blazer spoke that most of the losses to top East teams were close like the two against the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers which were by a combined three points and even had two tight ones against the Boston Celtics.
“You have to have watched the games,” Lillard said. “One year in Portland, we got our a**es whupped every [regular-season] game by OKC. Then in the playoffs, we whupped their a**, so no; we haven’t beaten the top teams. But we also have to key in, look at why, figure out the context, and move forward.”
Though Bucks star Middleton plays off the bench now, he would score 16 points on shooting seven of nine from the field in the loss to go along with five assists. He would also state how integral it is to beat the top conference teams to show that they belong with the rest of them.
"It definitely matters," Middleton said. "We've gotta win. We can't just beat the OK teams, the not-so-good teams; we have to beat all teams — the great teams, the good teams, in between everything. It's a long season … we've gotta figure out a way to beat the better teams. I think we will."
Milwaukee is 20-17 which puts them sixth in the Eastern Conference as they next face the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
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