Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 2019 NBA All-Star Game

The Captain’s performance

Making his third straight All-Star appearance, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t help but take over the night in the only way he knows how in an effort to lead his squad to victory.

Playing just over 27 minutes of action, Antetokounmpo finished with a game-high 38 points on 17-of-23 shooting from the field (2-for-6 from three, 2-for-2 from the foul line), 11 rebounds, five assists, three turnovers, one steal and was a -7 for the night.

Antetokounmpo was right at home with the dunkfest that is typical of All-Star games, thanks to the relaxed defensive efforts to start out the night. That only led to the 24-year-old getting off to a hot start and quickly getting into double figures just over four minutes into the contest, and he didn’t register his first miss of the night until his ninth try.

It was midway through the second quarter when Antetokounmpo generated the highlight of the night as he bounced up to collect an alley-oop bounce pass supplied by Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry to only throw it down one handed, leaving everyone watching live on television and in person awestruck.

As the night went along, Antetokounmpo was freely testing his shooting range, which meant opposing players were freely playing off of him, as expected. Despite that, Antetokounmpo found the bottom of the net on two occasions, the latter make coming at the 4:32 mark of the fourth to bring his team within three points of Team LeBron.

While his bid for All-Star MVP was erased with Team LeBron ultimately toppling his squad, Antetokounmpo’s play just displayed how essential he has become to the league’s midseason showcase. As the saying goes, it’s Giannis Antetokounmpo’s world, we’re just living in it.