Giannis Antetokounmpo sets tone, bench provides energy in Bucks win over Heat -

MILWAUKEE — Following Monday’s game against the Heat, Giannis Antetokounmpo made his way onto the stage in the Jim Paschke Interview Room at Fiserv Forum and slammed two green fists onto the table.

“What we got?” Antetokounmpo asked the assembled media in a gravelly voice, wearing an Incredible Hulk costume. “Don’t be scared, come on.”

"Don't be scared c'mon!"

Giannis having too much fun tonight 🤣 pic.twitter.com/wlCGNrOERN

— NBA (@NBA) October 31, 2023

Luckily, the Milwaukee Bucks had defeated the Miami Heat, 122-114, and Antetokounmpo had contributed 33 points, seven rebounds and two assists in 32 minutes because reporters might not have liked Antetokounmpo if he were angry. For a few brief moments it appeared as though the Bucks were going to ruin the fun by letting the Heat claw back into the game after Milwaukee led by as many as 25 points early in the fourth quarter. Ultimately the Bucks shut the door, enabling Antetokounmpo to have some fun after the game.

Antetokounmpo — while dressed in the Hulk costume much to the delight of his children, who were in the back of the interview room — earnestly broke down the team’s second win of the season, including one development that particularly pleased the Bucks’ Greek Goliath.

Antetokounmpo gets his chance on Butler

The Bucks and Heat have quite the playoff history across the last four seasons.

In 2020, after the Bucks put together the NBA’s best regular season record, the Heat eliminated them from the playoffs (and the NBA’s bubble) in a second-round upset. In 2021, the Bucks swept the Heat in the first round on their way to the franchise’s second championship. Last season, the eighth-seeded Heat upset Milwaukee in the first round, which ultimately led to the ousting of head coach Mike Budenholzer.

Throughout that time, the Bucks have always had Antetokounmpo on their roster and Jimmy Butler has been with the Heat. And one major storyline during all three series: “Is Antetokounmpo covering Butler?”

In 2020, Antetokounmpo did. Instead, Budenholzer opted to let Antetokounmpo serve as a roaming, help side defender, where he watched as Butler put together a 40-point Game 1 masterpiece. To close the game, Butler made the final six shots he took in the final six minutes and Antetokounmpo was the player who took the ball out of the basket on all six makes.

In 2021, Budenholzer altered his strategy and put Antetokounmpo on Butler to open the series. The Heat forward never got going and the Bucks swept the series to move on to the second round.

Last season, Budenholzer put Jrue Holiday on Butler, but the entire series changed once Antetokounmpo went down in the first quarter of the first game when Kevin Love attempted to take a charge on an Antetokounmpo drive. He ended up playing in Games 4 and 5, but was less than 100 percent and the Bucks lost in five games.

On Monday, Bucks coach Adrian Griffin wasted no time in revealing how he felt about the topic as Antetokounmpo took Butler from the opening tip. And after Thomas Bryant won the tip for the Heat, Antetokounmpo wasted no time announcing his presence.

He stalked Butler down to the left block and bumped him off his spot as Bryant made his way toward Antetokounmpo to set a screen. When Butler caught the ball a few feet behind the 3-point line in the middle of the floor, Antetokounmpo pressed up to Butler chest-to-chest. And after Butler swung the ball to Love on the right wing, Antetokounmpo remained connected to Butler and they engaged in a bit of hand fighting, like a wide receiver and a cornerback in press coverage, until Love missed the game’s opening shot.

“I felt good. I think I did a good job at times,” Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously I tried to make it as tough as possible for him. And not just him, whoever I try to guard. This will only make me better and make the team better. Sometimes I have to guard the best player. Sometimes I have to put my feet down, slide side-to-side, contest every shot. Like, I have to do that. I have to kind of push him out of his position. Sometimes I have to play — not dirty — but I have to be physical.”

Obviously, Antetokounmpo was not the only player to cover Butler as neither coach went out of the way to sync up the minutes of his star player with another in a regular season game. But Antetokounmpo’s defense helped set the tone on Butler, who finished with just 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting and four assists in 29 minutes.

“I feel like I’ve been, at times, I’ve been protected,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think like a lot of players around the league when you have the superstar, the best player, they kind of like protect them. They have them guard like the guy that’s not super aggressive, so he doesn’t get in foul trouble, he doesn’t waste his energy on defense. But for me, I believe I’m one of the best two-way players to ever play this game and I want to have that challenge.

“And at times, I’m not going to be good and at times, I’m going to be good for my team. But at the end of the day I cannot — I don’t feel like I can kind of shy away from the challenge and just see. Obviously my teammates, they’re unbelievable, they can also guard, they can also move their feet, but you want to be able to go back home and know that you gave everything to the game and you gave everything to stop the other team’s best player.”

Just three games into the season, Griffin has not been shy in giving Antetokounmpo tough assignments. After having a nine-point lead at halftime on opening night against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Bucks saw their lead shrink to two in the first four minutes of the second half as Joel Embiid scored eight quick points to start the third quarter.

After a timeout, Griffin took Brook Lopez off of Embiid and moved Antetokounmpo over to the 76ers’ superstar center. On the first possession defending Embiid, Antetokounmpo stole the ball from him and went the other way for a dunk. On the next possession, he drew an offensive foul on Embiid, his fourth personal.

“For me this year, the first game, I had a chance to guard Embiid for a couple possessions, which I loved. I don’t remember the last time I guarded him, it was like four years (ago). And today, I had the challenge to guard Jimmy after three years. The last time I guarded him was in the playoffs of 2021 in the first round.

“I’m happy. I’m happy that coach is allowing me to take that challenge and I hope that I can be good for my teammates.”

Portis and the bench mob bring the energy

The Bucks and Heat were tied at 28 after one quarter. On the second night of a back-to-back, the Bucks needed a spark to pull away and Bobby Portis was ready for the moment. After Cam Payne hit a 3 to open the quarter, Portis picked Tyler Herro’s dribble and ran to the other end for a layup.

Less than a minute later, Portis put Orlando Robinson in a blender with a fake spin move that froze the Heat big man and freed Portis for a righty hook off the glass.

The quick 7-0 run forced Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to call a timeout as the crowd broke out into a loud “Bobby!” chant as both teams walked toward their respective benches.

“Bobby, he just changed the game with his energy,” Griffin said. “Speeding guys up with his ball pressure, getting deflections, getting turnovers, grabbing rebounds and pushing and making plays for each other. I mean, he was everywhere and that’s what we needed from him coming off the bench. When he plays that way, we’re a very tough team to beat.”

Portis ended the night with 16 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes. In three games under Griffin, Portis has played fewer minutes — 19.7 minutes per game this season vs. 26 minutes per game last season — than he did under Budenholzer, but he’s been even more impactful, putting up the best per minute stats (23.2 points, 11 rebounds and 3.7 assists per 36 minutes) of his career.

On Monday, though, it wasn’t just Portis making a difference off the bench. Payne made three of his four 3-point attempts to get himself up to 11 points on the night and Jae Crowder and Pat Connaughton each contributed eight points to bring the bench tally up to 43 points.

“I thought our entire bench was phenomenal, just with their focus and intensity,” Griffin said. “Cam came in and hit some big shots. Jae was solid like always. PC, just a veteran leadership, just always solid. So it was definitely a total team win.”

(Photo of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jimmy Butler and Khris Middleton: Benny Sieu / USA Today)

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