Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 124-117 loss to Cleveland Cavaliers

The Antetokounmp-Show

As has been the case in the last several meetings against the Cavaliers, all eyes were on how the matchup between superstars LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo would shake out.

On Monday night, the 23-year-old Greek phenom didn’t disappoint on his end of things (neither did James as evidenced by his gaudy triple-double score line).

Playing just over 38 and a half minutes, Antetokounmpo finished with 37 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field (11-of-11 from the free throw line), 11 rebounds, five assists, two turnovers, one steal and was a -1 on the night.

Antetokounmpo’s night was initially limited due to the two quick fouls he picked up within the game’s first six minutes and change. But when he returned back on the floor in the opening couple of minutes in the second quarter, Antetokounmpo made up for lost time by attacking the rack, primarily in the open floor.

While he continued to do that throughout the second quarter, Antetokounmpo wasn’t without his dry spells as his play in the third quarter showed. But once again, Giannis rebounded from his quiet third quarter by virtually willing the Bucks to give them a puncher’s chance late in the fourth, especially since just over half of his total points scored for the night came in that frame (19).

It’s not exactly how one would like to see his night be segmented, but Antetokounmpo nonetheless finished with the type of performance that was to be expected of him, given the context of both going against James and being under the national spotlight.