Giannis was upon us
Even with the lack of superstar punch that took a big hit with Kevin Durant’s ejection late in the first half, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s star power was evident all throughout Thursday night in the Bucks’ victory over the Warriors.
Playing just over 34-and-a-half minutes, Antetokounmpo finished with 32 points on 14-of-18 shooting from the field (2-of-3 from three), five assists, four rebounds, two steals, one turnover and was a team-high +23 for the night.
Starting things off for the Bucks, Antetokounmpo made his scoring look so easy in the variety of ways he found success from all levels of the floor. In fact, Antetokounmpo’s 77.8 field goal percentage on the night ranks as his most efficient performance in a single game of his inimitable campaign this year.
Although there wasn’t anyone standing in Giannis’ way to the rim or otherwise, Bucks fans held their collective breath as the 23-year-old rolled his right ankle midway through the third quarter, the same one that forced him to miss last week’s game with the Chicago Bulls.
After walking it off for a few moments, Giannis fought through it and didn’t appear to have any residual effects from that point on until the end of the game, something Giannis shared following the game as Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed.
Giannis says he doesn’t feel any swelling in his right ankle. Said at the moment he twisted it he was thinking of assistant coach Sean Sweeney who has been calling him “softie” because in the past Giannis would play through thinks like that.
— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) March 30, 2018
Being on the second end of a back-to-back on Friday night, Antetokounmpo’s status may end up being something to monitor throughout the day nonetheless, but it was good to see Giannis do what he does best on Thursday night all the same.