Giannis Antetokounmpo’s confrontation with Tyrese Haliburton’s father did not come unprompted.
The Milwaukee Bucks star Antetokounmpo was involved in a couple of heated incidents following his team’s season-ending loss on Tuesday to the Indiana Pacers. Indiana defeated Milwaukee in overtime 119-118, and Antetokounmpo was seen giving a piece of his mind to John Haliburton, father of Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton, after the end of the game. You can see the video of the entire episode (plus another one that Antetokounmpo had with Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin) here.
Speaking with reporters afterwards, Antetokounmpo explained what all the fuss was about. He said John Haliburton walked onto the floor to taunt him as the final buzzer sounded, which sparked their later confrontation.
“I believe in being humble in victory,” said Antetokounmpo. “It can be a lot of people out there who [think] when you win the game you can talk s–t, and it’s a green light to be disrespectful towards someone else. I disagree.
“Having a fan, which at the moment I thought he was a fan,” Antetokounmpo added. “But then I realize it was Tyrese’s [father]. I love Tyrese. I think he’s a great competitor. [But] it was his dad … Coming in the floor and showing me his son, a towel with his face, [and saying], ‘This is what we do. This is what we F-ing do. This what the F we do.’ I feel like that’s very, very disrespectful … Coming to me and disrespecting me and cursing at me is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. I’m not a guy that points fingers because in my neighborhood, snitches get stitches. So I don’t want to say something for him to get fined or anything. But it’s not respectful. I talked with him at the end. And I think we’re in a good place.”
Indeed, video soon surfaced of the moment that John Haliburton walked onto the floor to get in Antetokounmpo’s face and taunt him. In his hands was a towel handed out by the Pacers that displayed the face of Tyrese Haliburton.
It was Tyrese Haliburton who hit the game-winning shot for the Pacers in overtime with 1.3 seconds remaining. But Antetokounmpo clearly did not appreciate getting taunted after the final buzzer by the elder Haliburton, particularly given his long history of bad blood with the Pacers.
