Thanasis’ time to shine
Long before the night took a left turn for the Bucks, we were handed a nice surprise to begin the contest as Budenholzer turned to seldom-used forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo for a nod in the Bucks’ regular starting lineup.
With the Bucks hosting Greek Heritage night, the elder Antetokounmpo made an instant impact at the center position, particularly flummoxing Nuggets All-Star center Nikola Jokic and displaying his lower body strength in the post.
On the offensive end, Antetokounmpo intercepted an errant pass and threw home a breakaway dunk just over a minute into the contest. And he followed that up with a cutting and-one finish that was set up by his superstar brother, Giannis. Thanasis ended up finishing with four points on three shots (0-for-1 from three, 0-for-1 from the foul line), a steal and was a +6 in over five minutes of burn.
As ESPN’s Eric Woodyard relayed, Giannis has previously spoken about what it has meant to have his older brother on the team, someone he has leaned on for advice during critical moments like last year throughout their playoff run:
"“It means a lot having Thanasis. He always has this positive energy around him, he’s always smiling, he’s always is going to give me the best advice,” Giannis told ESPN in December, while watching their younger brother Alex’s game in the stands at Dominican High School. “He’s going to speak the truth to me. “So it’s always good to have that balance and it’s going to be days where I do great stuff and he’ll tell me that also.”"
The loss may have overshadowed it, but it was a nice wrinkle to see the two brothers share the floor with one another and to have it come under Thanasis’ first NBA start.
The Bucks will look to bounce back when they host the Phoenix Suns Sunday afternoon for a 1pm CT tip-off at Fiserv Forum.