3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ nail-biting win over OKC Thunder

Despite a poor shooting night, Giannis Antetokounmpo shows why he is among the greats as he leads the Milwaukee Bucks to a win

Giannis Antetokounmpo has had a fantastic start to the new season as he continues putting up MVP caliber numbers for the Bucks, but he had his share of struggles against the Thunder.

It was an incredibly rare inefficient shooting night for Antetokounmpo as he would go 6-of-16 on field-goal attempts, missing all four of his 3-point attempts. The Greek Freak was smothered by a handful of Thunder players whenever he took the ball inside, even getting shots blocked on a few different occasions. That made it a frustrating outing for him, but Antetokounmpo came through in the end regardless and buried a mid-range jumper to essentially seal the deal for the Bucks. The thing about Giannis is that his shot could be missing all night and he will still take that jumper in a critical situation, showing his confidence in the work he has put into perfecting that shot.

Aside from the clutch bucket, the most notable contribution from Antetokounmpo would have to be his blocked shots. He had four of them sprinkled throughout, but there was one that certainly stood out among the others. With the Bucks leading by just two points late in the fourth, Darius Bazley went up for a layup to tie the game, but Antetokounmpo came soaring in out of nowhere to swap it away. Although plays like this from Antetokounmpo should not be surprising after seeing him do them for the past few years consistently, it never ceases to amaze fans when he does something like this.

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1461896252153421825?s=20

Giannis also helped the Bucks stay afloat on the glass by hauling in a season-high 19 rebounds, nearly notching a 20-20 double-double. He was on triple-double watch for quite some time as he finished with seven assists, doing some of everything for the Bucks. Antetokounmpo’s glaring five turnovers and five personal fouls are nothing to cheer about, but the good undeniably outweighs the bad here. From the otherworldly block to the elite rebounding, Antetokounmpo showed that he does not need to drop 47 points, which he did in the previous game, to show how dangerous he is at all times.

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will aim to make it three consecutive wins as they take on the Orlando Magic tonight, and you can catch the action at 7:00 p.m. CST on Bally Sports Wisconsin.