Milwaukee Bucks: 3 stars of the week following big win over Nets
With less than two weeks until the end of the 2020-21 season, the Milwaukee Bucks are gearing up for the final stretch ahead of their playoff run.
Their 117-114 win over the Brooklyn Nets Sunday afternoon at Fiserv Forum certainly serves as a confidence booster for Milwaukee, especially after having stumbled earlier in the week following their embarrassing loss to the Houston Rockets.
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Now at 40-24 on the season and with eight regular season games remaining, the Bucks are still look to do some fine tuning as well as potentially improve their playoff positioning as they stand 2.5 games back of the Nets going into Tuesday’s rubber match.
So without further ado, let’s hand out our three stars of the week for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the first star of the week for the Milwaukee Bucks
In a rather wild ride of a week for Bucks fans, the closing show may have been the best game the Bucks have played all year, mainly thanks to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Coming off of his ankle sprain in Houston on Thursday Antetokounmpo seemed to not miss a single note, let alone beat, in his season-high 49-point performance versus Brooklyn Sunday afternoon. Antetokounmpo scored at will, particularly in the 3rd quarter, as he and Brooklyn forward Kevin Durant put on a scoring master class throughout the day, all of which was an absolute joy to behold.
Within Giannis’ marvelous performance, the seven-footer showed his ability to get to his spots and not only make the shots in the second half, but he exhibited his unconscious mind when it comes to taking those shots. Once Antetokounmpo got into his groove, it did not matter who Brooklyn decided to throw when guarding him one-on-one as no one on Brooklyn’s roster could slow down Antetokounmpo. Even late in the game when Brooklyn started to show him multiple bodies, he still was unable to be slowed down.
Even without former MVP James Harden, this was very much a warning shot for a possible postseason series where the Bucks showed that they were not afraid of the star power that Brooklyn has. And it capped off a week in which Antetokounmpo averaged 26.3 points on .582/.500/.692 shooting, 6.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks across his three appearances.