Wednesday’s victory by the Milwaukee Bucks was clearly very cathartic for franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Antetokounmpo detonated for 59 points against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday to lead his team to a 127-120 win in overtime. Despite trailing by as many as 18 at one point and being without Damian Lillard (concussion), Khris Middleton (ankle), and Bobby Portis (elbow), the Bucks came back all the way back for a much-needed victory in front of their home crowd.
The two-time MVP Antetokounmpo finished with a truly freaky final stat line of 59 points on 21/34 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and three blocks. After a dunk with 30 seconds left in overtime to seal the win, Antetokounmpo got animated with the Fiserv Forum, pointing to his jersey and saying, “This is my city!”
Giannis reminds Milwaukee that this is HIS city as he gets his 59th point of the night. pic.twitter.com/7mesSUwe34
— Follow HeavenlyBuckets (@heavenlybuckets) November 14, 2024
Antetokounmpo also got a bit choked up during his postgame interview upon hearing loud MVP chants from the Milwaukee crowd.
Giannis emotional during the postgame as "MVP" chants rain down from Fiserv.
59 points. pic.twitter.com/SoZl8l7OZ1
— Nathan Marzion (@nathanmarzion) November 14, 2024
The Bucks had very a difficult start to the NBA season, losing eight of their first 10 games. That led to chatter that Antetokounmpo might even possibly be available for trade. Antetokounmpo himself had been very frustrated with his team’s performance as well, recently even snapping at a reporter after a blowout loss.
But Milwaukee is very slowly righting the ship, winning back-to-back games to improve to 4-8 and now about to face six sub.-500 teams to close out the month of November. You could obviously tell how much Wednesday night’s win meant to Antetokounmpo too now that it looks like his team is emerging out the other side of the storm.
