Giannis Antetokounmpo

Central Notes: Bucks, Pacers, Bulls, Smart, Beasley, Cunningham

December 23rd, 2024 at 5:52pm CST by Rory Maher

The Bucks have ruled out both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard for Monday’s game vs. Chicago due to a non-COVID illness, as Jamal Collier of ESPN relays.

According to Collier, several of Milwaukee’s players and staff members have been feeling sick since winning the NBA Cup final last Tuesday. Lillard missed a pair of games over the weekend due to a right calf injury and was previously doubtful heading into Monday’s game with that ailment, while Antetokounmpo was out for Saturday’s back-to-back and was questionable prior to Monday’s contest with back spasms.

In an unrelated story, Antetokounmpo acknowledged he’s at a loss as to why the Bucks aren’t playing on Christmas for the first time in seven seasons, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. The former Finals MVP said he was “little bit upset or kind of questioning it” in part because 10 other teams received the invitation, while Milwaukee did not.

“There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s — how can I say — like a popularity contest, I can give you facts,” Antetokounmpo said. “You want me to? Two of the NBA All-Star starters, Dame and Giannis, and the All-Star MVP, right? And the No. 1 vote-getter — not in the East, in the whole NBA — is not in the Christmas game? What? No, it’s a fact.

“The votes came out last year. I was the No. 1. Dame was a starter. I was a starter. Dame won the MVP. Dame won the three-point contest. Maybe that has nothing to do with it. I believe we were one of the best teams in the East last year. Maybe not this year, OK. We don’t get a Christmas game. Why? Because we got a small market? Maybe that’s the case. Or I want to believe what I tell you, I think there’s an algorithm within the NBA that they choose which team will get the most attention, the most viewership that day.”

While Antetokounmpo said he was “pissed” he wouldn’t be competing on a marquee day, he and many other Bucks also said they’re happy they get to spend the holiday with their families, according to Nehm.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

The Pacers dominated the Kings in Sacramento on Sunday en route to their fourth straight victory, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell said the team never splintered in the face of adversity — Indiana has had to a sluggish start to the season and is still just 14-15. “I really like how everyone in here didn’t hit the panic button while everyone else was,” McConnell said. “I feel like people don’t realize last year, at one point we were 14-14. Long season. Obviously, we didn’t start the way we wanted to. We went on a couple losing streaks, but we’re well coached. That’s kept us together and we have a really together group. Everyone is for everyone in here. In the NBA, that’s all you can ask for.” According to Dopirak, many Pacers, including McConnell, noted that injuries to Andrew Nembhard, Ben Sheppard and Aaron Nesmith have hurt the team. Nembhard and Sheppard have returned, improving the perimeter defense and offensive spacing, while Nesmith continues to be sidelined with an ankle injury. Although it’s obviously a positive that the Pacers have rebounded, they’ll be challenged by a difficult schedule — including a home-road back-to-back against Oklahoma City and Boston — over their next four games, Dopirak observes.
The Bulls have been better than expected to this point, currently holding a 13-16 record. Star guard Zach LaVine and head coach Billy Donovan have made it clear the players and coaches have no plan of tanking. That means the front office will play an important role if the team hopes to retain its top-10 protected first-round pick, and a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley still have “full autonomy” to change the roster ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Based on his wording, it’s unclear whom the Grizzlies might be interested in out of LaVine or Nikola Vucevic, but Cowley says Memphis “would love” to shed Marcus Smart‘s salary, noting the former Defensive Player of the Year has played sporadic minutes of late. However, Cowley states that Chicago doesn’t want to take on multiyear contracts unless it receives draft compensation in return — Smart makes $20.2MM in 2024/25, followed by $21.6MM in ’25/26. For what it’s worth, Vucevic is a near-perfect salary match ($20MM in ’24/25, $21.5MM in ’25/26).
Malik Beasley is on pace to break the Pistons‘ single-season record for three-pointers made and his outside shooting has opened up driving and passing lanes for reigning East Player of the Week Cade Cunningham, per Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. The Pistons have been very effective (+6.8) when the two players share the court together, Sankofa adds. “It’s really just understanding each other’s games, understanding where our spots are,” Cunningham said. “We play so well off of each other. He gives me an outlet so many times whenever guys send more at me, and for me, I think he loves playing with me because I throw it over to him. It’s just about building that relationship on and off the court and continuing to grow.” Beasley, 28, will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason after signing a one-year, $6MM deal with Detroit last summer.

Community Shootaround: 2024/25 NBA MVP Race

December 22nd, 2024 at 12:06pm CST by Luke Adams

As we relayed on Friday, three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic led the way in the first MVP straw poll conducted by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps for the 2024/25 season. However, while Jokic earned 57 first-place votes from the 100 media members polled by Bontemps, it’s clearly a three-player race at this point.

Jokic totaled 827 total points in the voting, with Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at 678 points and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo at 643. Gilgeous-Alexander received 24 first-place votes, while Antetokounmpo got 19 — no other player earned a single first-place vote, and Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was the only other player to even claim a second-place vote (he got three).

Plenty could change between now and the end of the regular season, and injury luck is always a factor, but it seems highly likely at this point that one of Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, or Antetokounmpo will be named this season’s Most Valuable Player. Here are their cases so far:

Nikola Jokic:

As usual, the Nuggets center has been an advanced-stats star. He leads the NBA in player efficiency rating (31.9), win shares per 48 minutes (.287), box plus/minus (12.8), and value over replacement player (3.0).

Of course, Jokic’s traditional stats look awfully impressive too. His 31.0 points per game would be a career best, as would his league-leading 50.0% mark on three-point attempts. He’s nearly averaging a triple-double, with 13.0 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game.

The main knock against Jokic at this point is that his Nuggets are fighting to stay out of play-in territory — they’re currently tied for sixth in the Western Conference at 14-11. But it’s hard to blame the big man for that modest record. Denver has a +9.7 net rating in his 819 minutes on the court, while their net rating in the 391 minutes he hasn’t played is a brutal -14.3.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:

Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.3 points, 6.2 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game with a 50.8% field goal percentage, a very strong mark for a guard. He’s also the only player in the NBA who is averaging at least two steals and one block per contest.

The fact that MVPs historically come from teams at or near the top of the standings works in SGA’s favor — his Thunder are 22-5, which is the second-best record in the league and the top mark in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City has a three-game lead in the conference standings on the No. 2 Rockets.

While his supporting cast is certainly stronger than Jokic’s, Gilgeous-Alexander has obviously had a huge hand in OKC’s success. The team has a +15.5 net rating in his 935 minutes and a +1.5 mark in 361 minutes without him on the floor.

The Thunder star also ranks first in the NBA in defensive win shares (2.0) and total win shares (5.4), while placing just behind Jokic in WS/48, BPM, and VORP. His only real weakness is his subpar three-point rate of 33.5% on 6.3 attempts per night.

Giannis Antetokounmpo:

No NBA player has averaged more points per game this season than Antetokounmpo (32.7), who is also among the league leaders in rebounds per game (11.6). The Bucks forward also fills the box score with 6.0 assists and 1.5 blocks per night, along with a career-best field goal percentage of 61.3%.

Giannis is right there with Jokic in terms of PER (31.8) and ranks third behind Jokic and SGA in BPM (9.1) and VORP (2.4). He earns extra points for pulling the Bucks out of an early-season hole, but as a result of that slow start, the team is still just 15-12, fifth in the Eastern Conference. That won’t help his case, so the Bucks will have to keep winning.

Antetokounmpo’s on/off-court numbers are also surprisingly unflattering compared to his top two MVP competitors. Milwaukee’s net rating is essentially the same with him on the court (+1.4) as it is when he’s not playing (+1.3).

We want to know what you think. Which of these three players would you be your MVP pick right now? Which one do you expect to lead the MVP race as the season progresses? Outside of this trio, which player do you think has the best chance to make a run at this season’s MVP award?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Central Notes: Bulls, Pacers, Bucks, Pistons

December 20th, 2024 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls registered their most impressive win of the season on Thursday in Boston, defeating the defending champion Celtics for their third consecutive victory and increasing their record on the season to 13-15.

As a result of the win, Chicago is now tied with Sacramento for the 10th-worst record in the NBA. That’s notable because the Bulls will send their 2025 first-round pick to San Antonio if it doesn’t end up in the top 10. After scoring a game-high 36 points on Thursday, Zach LaVine made it clear that hanging onto that draft pick isn’t something the Bulls’ players and coaches are thinking about, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.

“Players and coaches never tank. That’s just not going to happen,” LaVine said. “We’re a good team. From all the predictions early on in the year, like we’re better than what people predicted us to be off the talent we have here. We’re competitive, man. You go out there and play like we did, we can beat anybody.”

Of course, while it may be true that players and coaches “never tank,” the same can’t be said of front offices, who are in position to make in-season personnel moves to weaken a team’s roster and improve its draft position. LaVine is one candidate to be dealt by the February 6 deadline, and Cowley hears there’s “light momentum” in talks involving Chicago’s top scorer.

Still, head coach Billy Donovan said that he hasn’t gotten the impression in conversations with head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas that the front office is in a hurry to start losing.

“The one thing I respect about the organization, and this was even in the summer from exit interviews, meetings, things like that, is I think collectively inside the organization there is an expectation about the integrity of competition and to go out there and put our best foot forward,” Donovan said. “… Nothing has ever been said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to keep this pick so do this and this.’ That is not happening, and I respect that as a coach. I feel like everything we’re doing each and every day is how do we put these guys, ourselves, in the best position to compete and win.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

The Pacers beat the Suns in Phoenix on Thursday for their third straight win and finally appear to be finding their identity after a shaky start to the season, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “The practice time the last two weeks has helped us,” head coach Rick Carlisle said of a stretch in which Indiana played three games in 11 days. “It’s helped us regain an edge defensively. Our full-court defense is more of a factor. We just need teams to feel us. Even if we’re not the most physically bruising team, they need to feel our persistence at both ends. I thought we really picked it up tonight.”
Like the Pacers, the Bucks came out of the gates slowly this fall before reestablishing their identity and hitting their stride. Milwaukee is ahead of where Indiana is, having won 12 of its last 15 regular season games, plus the NBA Cup final. Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription required) takes a closer look at how the Bucks have turned things around, with perennial MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the way. “Getting the ball in Giannis’ hands and letting Giannis dictate action,” head coach Doc Rivers said of the team’s game plan. “He’s our best player. And so, that’s what we’re doing. But, we gotta make sure we get it to him and then we gotta make sure to run to space.”
Determining whether Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey are part of the long-term plans is one of the Pistons‘ top priorities this season, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com, who notes that both players will be extension-eligible during the 2025 offseason. Within his mailbag, Langlois also answers questions about Detroit’s trade candidates, Ausar Thompson‘s role, and Marcus Sasser‘s development.

And-Ones: MVP Race, Redick, Birch, Obst

December 20th, 2024 at 11:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Nikola Jokic has a commanding lead in ESPN’s first straw poll of the season on the MVP race, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The Nuggets center captured 57 first-place votes among the 100 ballots, giving him 827 total points.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came in second with 24 first-place votes and 678 points, followed by Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo, who topped 19 ballots and has 643 points. Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (267 points) and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (123) round out the top five.

A win by Jokic would give him four MVP trophies in five years and would put him in very select company, Bontemps notes. Only LeBron James and Bill Russell have collected the award four times in five seasons, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain are the other players to be named MVP at least four times.

Bontemps adds that Antetokoumpo had a significant surge in the poll after his dominant performance in the NBA Cup final. Twenty-nine voters changed their ballots after Tuesday’s game, giving him more than twice as many first-place votes and moving him much closer to Gilgeous-Alexander.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

J.J. Redick, who was a rising media star before being hired to coach the Lakers, weighed in on the NBA’s declining television ratings after Thursday’s game, according to Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Redick doesn’t believe the league is being presented well by its national TV outlets. “We don’t have anybody that’s willing to step up to the fact that this is an awesome game and we should talk about it and celebrate it in a positive way,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t critique it. We should critique it, but we should celebrate it. Nobody’s doing that, and the people that are have a small niche following on Twitter. And frankly, I would argue as well, that everyone in our ecosystem pays too much attention to what is said on Twitter. And part of this whole ratings discussion is because people on Twitter are talking about it.”
Khem Birch will remain with Fenerbahce for the rest of the season, relays Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews. In September, Birch signed a one-year contract with an exit clause that would have allowed the Turkish team to terminate the deal in January. Urbonas states that other EuroLeague teams had interest if the 32-year-old center had become a free agent again.
German sharpshooter Andreas Obst spoke about a potential three-point shootout with Stephen Curry and his interest in an NBA future in a BasketNews Film Session Episode. Obst says he heard that NBA executives were talking about him after he starred in the 2023 World Cup, but he never got a formal offer. “At some point, yeah, I could see myself in the NBA,” he said. “I can fill a role as a shooter. I know how to use my gravity to space the floor, spot up, and play off the ball. That’s something I think any NBA team could use.”

Antetokounmpo Headlines All-Tournament Team For NBA Cup

December 19th, 2024 at 12:24pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA announced the All-Tournament Team for the NBA Cup on Thursday, with Giannis Antetokounmpo headlining the five-player group (Twitter link). The Bucks superstar was named tournament MVP after Milwaukee defeated Oklahoma City in Tuesday’s final.

Here’s the full team, along with the amount of votes each player received (in parentheses) from a group of 20 media members:

Antetokounmpo, Bucks (20)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder (20)
Damian Lillard, Bucks (19)
Trae Young, Hawks (12)
Alperen Sengun, Rockets (6)

All five players advanced to at least the semifinals of the league’s second in-season tournament. Antetokounmpo and Gilgeous-Alexander were unanimous selections, while Lillard fell one vote shy.

According to the full voting results, Thunder big man Isaiah Hartenstein (5), Magic forward Franz Wagner (5), Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (4) and Thunder forward Jalen Williams (3) narrowly missed out on making the team. Six other players received one vote apiece.

The voting for the team is based on each player’s performance over the entire NBA Cup, including group play and the knockout round games. The Bucks went undefeated (7-0) to claim the trophy.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Named 2024 NBA Cup MVP

December 18th, 2024 at 6:56am CST by Luke Adams

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 NBA Cup on Tuesday night after leading Milwaukee to a 97-81 victory over the Thunder in the championship game in Las Vegas (Twitter links).

Antetokounmpo was selected as the MVP by all 20 media members who voted on the award and also received three of the five fan votes (Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got the remaining two).

The two-time regular season MVP guided the Bucks to victory on Tuesday with a 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. He also added three blocked shots and a pair of steals.

“I mean it’s… I could try but you know, I’ll just keep it simple: He’s the best player in the world,” Bucks center Brook Lopez told Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game in trying to describe Giannis’ play. “He just keeps finding ways to get better in the offseason, in-season, every day, every game, it’s just so impressive.”

The MVP award is based on Antetokounmpo’s performance over the entire NBA Cup, including group play and the previous knockout round games. He averaged 30.5 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 7.7 APG, and 2.8 BPG across six NBA Cup contests as the Bucks went undefeated (7-0) in the in-season tournament.

As Owczarski notes, Antetokunmpo and last year’s in-season tournament Most Valuable Player LeBron James are now the two players in league history who have won MVP awards for the regular season, NBA Finals, All-Star Game, and NBA Cup.

While the NBA Cup championship game doesn’t count toward the Bucks’ regular season record or toward Antetokounmpo’s regular season stats, Tuesday’s win served as an exclamation point on the team’s early season turnaround — Milwaukee has won 13 of 16 games (including the NBA Cup final) since opening the season with a 2-8 record.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, is making a strong case for his third regular season MVP award. His 32.7 points per game lead the NBA and he’s also in the top five in rebounds per game (11.5) and field goal percentage (61.4%).

Central Notes: Atkinson, Okoro, Bucks, Giannis, Duarte

December 17th, 2024 at 1:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Visiting Brooklyn on Monday for the first time as the Cavaliers‘ head coach, Kenny Atkinson – who coached the Nets from 2016-20 – picked up a resounding win over his old team, with Cleveland blowing out Brooklyn by a score of 130-101. Magnanimous in victory, Atkinson made it clear he harbored no ill will toward the Nets for dismissing him midway through the 2019/20 season, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

“I don’t look at it that way. I just look at it as part of the story, right, part of your growth,” Atkinson said. “You have good things happen, you have setbacks, and — it’s like a player, how do you bounce back? And it was definitely a bounce back. And in the long run, the journey after Brooklyn really helped me, helped me grow as a coach. Who knows? If that doesn’t happen, maybe I’m not in Cleveland; I don’t improve as much as a coach if that didn’t happen. So I look at it more as a positive.”

While Atkinson wasn’t necessarily seeking revenge or vindication entering Monday’s matchup, he admitted that facing his former team provided an extra layer of motivation.

“I’m competitive, right? And when you have setbacks, you remember things, right?” Atkinson said. “And players do the same thing. If something happened or a team beat you or you get fired, you’re motivated. You’re motivated to prove people wrong; and that’s kind of how I took it. It’s a chip on your shoulder or whatever you want to call it. But there’s definitely some of that. I think any competitor feels the same way.”

Here’s more from around the Central:

Isaac Okoro, who has been the Cavaliers‘ starting small forward since November 4 with Max Strus still sidelined, will undergo further testing on a right shoulder injury he sustained in Monday’s win over Brooklyn, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required).
Ahead of the Bucks‘ appearance in the final of the NBA Cup on Tuesday, Jamal Collier of ESPN and Eric Nehm of The Athletic explore how the team bounced back from its 2-8 start and the role Giannis Antetokounmpo has played in the turnaround, not just as an MVP-level performer but as a more confident leader. “He was being vocal, talking about things he wanted (on the court), talking before the game, things that the first couple years he didn’t really do as often as he does now,” Bobby Portis, who has been with the Bucks since 2020, told Collier. “It’s cool to see guys’ leadership go to another level. Especially at a time of the season when it was critical for us to get back to at least playing some good ball.”
Bucks rookies Tyler Smith and AJ Johnson aren’t playing much so far this season, but they’re poised to supplement their first-year salaries with lucrative bonuses as a result of the team’s NBA Cup run and are enjoying being part of the experience in Las Vegas. Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story and the quotes from the two 20-year-olds.
The Bulls have assigned fourth-year wing Chris Duarte to the G League for the first time this season ahead of the Winter Showcase, per the team (Twitter link). Duarte, who was acquired in the DeMar DeRozan trade in July, has played sparingly for Chicago this season and is on an expiring contract, so he figures to be a trade candidate at the deadline — playing for the Windy City Bulls in Orlando at the G League Showcase, which begins Thursday, will give him an opportunity to try to catch the eye of scouts and executives from around the league.

Bucks Notes: NBA Cup, Portis, Giannis, Lillard

December 15th, 2024 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

The Bucks were motivated by last year’s failure as they headed into Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinals, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN. Favored to reach the title game in the league’s first in-season tournament last December, Milwaukee was surprised by an upstart Indiana team, and the players were determined not to let that happen again.

“We probably looked a little sharper this time around,” said Damian Lillard, who contributed 25 points and seven assists in Saturday’s win over Atlanta. “This time we came into it remembering our last experience. We came correct. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy playing against a good team, but we prepared, and it just felt familiar.”

Milwaukee appears to have fully turned around its season following a disastrous 2-8 start that led to speculation that major changes might be ahead. Saturday’s win was their third in a row, and their 14-11 record has them just two games out of third place in the East. According to Collier, coach Doc Rivers has been telling his team for weeks that it is capable of winning the NBA Cup.

“It’s a competition, man, and you want your team to be competitive,” Rivers said. “You want them to accept the challenge, that’s all I’ve been talking about. … That’s what I’m proud of for our guys.”

There’s more on the Bucks:

Last year’s defeat helped seal the fate of first-year coach Adrian Griffin, who was ultimately fired at mid-season, notes Sam Amick of The Athletic. Bobby Portis delivered a fiery post-game speech that challenged his teammates and Griffin to become more focused and stop letting winnable games slip away. Portis recalled those remarks after Saturday’s game. “It went viral, man. It was everywhere,” he said. “But everything I do is for the good. I’ve been a leader my whole life. Just because you make it to the NBA and there’s guys (on your team) who are top 75 on your team doesn’t stop you from being a leader. The message was, ‘We need to get better at late-game execution. We need to get better down the stretch. We need to know what the f–k we’re doing down the stretch, have guys in the right spots, so we can get a good shot. The last five, six minutes is winning time.’”
Giannis Antetokounmpo slipped out of the MVP conversation amid the team’s slow start, Amick adds, but the star forward offered more evidence on Saturday that he’s a serious candidate to pick up his third award. Antetokounmpo may be in the midst of his best season, Amick states, and he delivered 32 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in the win over Atlanta, capping the performance with a spectacular block of Clint Capela late in the fourth quarter (Twitter video link).
Antetokounmpo talked to Amick about his partnership with Lillard, which seems to be running much more smoothly in their second season together. Lillard has improved his shooting from the field and from three-point range, and he looks more like the dangerous scorer he was in Portland. “It takes time,” Antetokounmpo said. “You know, I feel like a lot of people had such high expectations from us on day one to be the best duo to ever play this game. But it takes time. Now it’s our second year playing together. We are more comfortable with one another, know one another’s spots better. And as you see, our chemistry has been getting way, way better. Down the stretch … we feel very, very comfortable we can both get to our spots and be more effective when we play that two-man game this year.”

Bucks Notes: Middleton, Rivers, Lillard, Giannis

December 6th, 2024 at 2:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

The long wait is about to end for Bucks swingman Khris Middleton, who is expected to take the court tonight in Boston for the first time since last spring’s playoffs, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Speaking to reporters at Friday afternoon’s shootaround, Middleton said this was the most difficult rehab process of his career because he had to undergo surgery on both ankles. Balance became an issue because Middleton couldn’t risk favoring one ankle over the other, and he said it was challenging mentally to be out of action for so long.

“Just not trying to get into a dark tunnel,” he said about his approach to rehab. “Having as many surgeries as I have, coming back from this one, I wanted to make sure I was all the way ready to come back, be as fresh as I can mentally to be in a good spot because this is a long, grueling season. I’m going to go through a lot of things during the season, going to get hit, banged up, whatever, to have that mindset that I can still fight through and to keep going.”

Bontemps notes that tonight will mark just the 43rd time that Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard will play together since Lillard was acquired in a trade in September 2023 — and only the ninth time with Doc Rivers as their head coach. The trio has been extremely effective in its limited window, Bontemps adds, with the Bucks outscoring opponents by 22.6 points per 100 possessions with the three of them on the court at the same time under Rivers and by 17.5 points per 100 possessions overall.

Middleton is likely to be on a minutes restriction as he eases his way back into action, but he’s not sure what it will be. He added that his focus is seeing how his body reacts to live game action.

“That’s one of the things I’m nervous about, just to see how I feel when I get out there,” he said. “See if I’m going to be ready to throw up in a minute, but once I’m out there, I’ll be fine. If I’m going to shoot the ball over the rim, over the glass, whatever, just with the nerves and everything, adrenaline going. So I’m excited about it, see how it performs, see how it goes and just go from there.”

There’s more on the Bucks:

Rivers has been saying for weeks that Middleton is close to returning, and he acknowledged that it was difficult for Middleton not to rush the final stages of his rehab process, per The Associated Press. “Anybody who wants to play, and Khris is one of those (guys), they’re frustrated,” Rivers said. “That’s mentally challenging. You see your team playing and although we’re playing well right now, I imagine when we were really struggling and he wasn’t playing that had to be really hard for him. You want to help your team, and he knows he can.”
Lillard discussed the importance of psychological preparation as the Bucks got ready to host Atlanta Wednesday night following Tuesday’s game at Detroit, relays Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I take it serious – mentally,” Lillard said. “You got to come in with no excuses and no crutches. You can’t come in thinking, ‘Oh, we had a back-to-back. We played last night, we’re tired.’ You do that, you start thinking like that, you’re beat.”
Antetokounmpo talks to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports about his desire to capture another MVP award. Antetokounmpo won in both 2019 and 2020 and would join an elite group of players by picking up a third trophy. “I do want to be part of that conversation,” he said. “It lets me know I was able to help my team, carry my team, solidified [us as a team]. I’m not gonna lie, it definitely means something to me.”

Bucks Notes: Giannis, Lillard, Prince, Middleton, NBA Cup

December 3rd, 2024 at 6:01pm CST by Luke Adams

At the start of training camp, Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard expressed confidence that their chemistry would be much improved in 2024/25 following a full season and offseason together.

While Milwaukee got off to a shaky start this fall, losing eight of its first 10 games, the club has since won eight of nine, including six in a row, and Antetokounmpo believes the on-court rhythm he and Lillard have developed has been a key factor, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic writes.

“Now we’re going into our second year playing together, and our chemistry has been incredible so far,” Antetokounmpo said after Saturday’s victory over Washington. “He hits me in the pocket. If he doesn’t hit me in the pocket, that means he has an open shot. He can get downhill, make another play. I think we trust one another. We definitely trust way more one another’s decision-making and we give one another space to operate.”

Lillard’s scoring average (25.9 PPG), and shooting percentages (.441 FG%, .361 3PT%) are all up so far this season over the marks he posted in 2023/24. Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, is playing some of the best basketball of his career, with a league-leading and career-high 32.9 PPG on 60.9% shooting in his first 17 games.

We have more on the Bucks:

Offseason addition Taurean Prince has been “incredible” so far this season for the Bucks, according to Antetokounmpo, who praised the veteran wing’s ability to space the floor around him and Lillard. As Nehm writes for The Athletic, Prince’s 8.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game don’t jump off the page, but he’s making an NBA-best 54.2% of his three-point attempts and is one of just two Bucks who have started all 19 of the team’s games so far this season. The 30-year-old signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Milwaukee over the summer.
Khris Middleton has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game in Detroit and it remains to be seen when he’ll make his season debut following offseason surgeries on both ankles. Still, he insisted over the weekend that he continues to move in the right direction as he works toward his return, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I feel good. I feel like I’m progressing. It’s just slower. Slower than I want it to be,” Middleton said. “I want to be out there, my teammates want me to be out there. I don’t think there’s anybody that wants to play more than me. You know that. I think some people know that in our organization. I just gotta be smart and not go out there until I’m fully ready.”
The Bucks’ game against Detroit on Tuesday will go a long way toward determining whether or not Milwaukee advances to the knockout round of the NBA Cup for a second straight year. A win would secure a quarterfinal berth for the Bucks as the winner of East Group B, while a loss by six points or less (or in overtime) would keep the club in the running for the East’s wild card spot (Twitter link).

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