February has been a strange month for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in their quest to find some much-needed stability.
They started fantastic by reeling off five straight wins after a two-game losing skid to close out January and looking better than ever. However, any momentum they had abruptly vanished as the Bucks lost their next five consecutive games, their longest such streak since 2017.
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Amidst the struggles, Antetokounmpo caused quite a stir when he stated that the losing streak was “not frustrating” because it would be good for the team moving forward. Perhaps he was right because, with their backs against the wall, the Bucks have rebounded in a big way with a four-game winning streak.
While it should be noted that all of the teams the Bucks have beaten in this stretch are currently out of the postseason picture, it is still welcoming to see them take care of business after failing to do so repeatedly during the losing skid.
Despite the adversity that has plagued this roster, the team has looked rejuvenated during their last four contests, and a sizeable portion of the comes from Antetokounmpo’s contributions.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been phenomenal during the Milwaukee Bucks’ winning streak.
With starting point guard Jrue Holiday sidelined for the last 10 games due to the league’s health and safety protocols, the Bucks were challenged to pick up the slack on both ends. They started off horrendously without the guard, managing to piece together just a 1-5 record.
Needing to stay afloat without one of their best players, Antetokounmpo has kicked it into high gear throughout these past four games, playing some of the best basketball of his career.
Most notably, Giannis has been scoring the ball at a prolific rate by averaging 35.5 points on .553/.358/.790 shooting splits. The Greek Freak has been highly efficient with the ball in his hands, and although it is a small sample size, he continues to showcase his sheer dominance as a scorer.
Antetokounmpo has been aggressive offensively, as evidenced by his 14.3 attempts from the free throw line per game in this little run. Even better, he has connected on 79 percent of those tries and continues to patch up one of his most prominent flaws.
In addition to his prolific scoring outbursts, Antetokounmpo has stuffed the stat sheet all around, tallying 13.8 rebounds, six assists, and 1.5 blocks per game within the same span. The 26-year-old has been doing everything in his power to keep this team high in the standings without their starting point guard, and his efforts should not be ignored.
This stretch just tacks onto the already fantastic year that the two-time MVP is having, but it has been under the radar for the more part. Due to Milwaukee’s postseason issues and Giannis winning the last two MVP awards, voter fatigue will likely hinder his chance at making a run at his third consecutive award, despite the phenomenal numbers he is putting up.
Nevertheless, everything moving forward for Antetokounmpo and the Bucks now revolves around building chemistry throughout the remainder of the regular season and making a deep playoff run. It will be good to get Holiday back as it seemed everyone had just started to click just before his absence earlier this month.
Until then, Antetokounmpo will aim to keep his recent stretch of dominance going, and he will have the chance to do so today as the Bucks host the LA Clippers at 2:30 p.m. CST.