Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 133-99 preseason win over Utah Jazz

Giannis is ready

Reflecting on an ultra short offseason at Media Day last week, Giannis Antetokounmpo admitted to feeling tired by his grueling summer schedule:

"“I was tired physically and mentally, because we had a long season and then I had a lot of things to do with Nike, with my family, and with the national team also.”"

A deep playoff run, a trip to China to play in the World Cup, and the globetrotting launch of a signature sneaker would take it out of anyone, and so there was reason to wonder just what Giannis would look like to start the season.

Given just how often Giannis seems to defy conventional wisdom, it probably shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise that he actually looked at his imperious best as he sampled his first preseason action of the year on Wednesday against the Jazz.

On his first possession of the game, his first possession of this new campaign, Antetokounmpo threw down a monumentally powerful slam, and unleashed his signature mean mug in celebration. Talk about a statement of intent.

After the game, as detailed by Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the 24-year-old explained his particularly exuberant reaction to that preseason play:

"“I felt like playing in FIBA I was like a prisoner,” Antetokounmpo said when asked about how that first dunk felt. “I just got out of the cage, the cell, and I’m free now.”"

Certainly, considering how Giannis was shackled by both his head coach and his opponents at the World Cup, it was exhilarating watching him get back to his free roving, all-conquering self.

This was Giannis in go-mode, playing the only way he knows how. Running hard, dunking hard, diving on the floor, and making winning plays. Another emphatic dunk late in the game was followed by something of a slip on the way down, and a moment that briefly left Bucks fans’ hearts in their mouths.

That play may have convinced Mike Budenholzer that his superstar doesn’t need to see too much more action before opening night against the Rockets, and it at least signaled a logical end point for Antetokounmpo’s exploits in this particular game.

But most importantly of all, with a final line of 22 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists in just 21 minutes, and the intensity of both his first and last plays, Giannis left no doubt that he’s ready to do this all over again.