INDIANAPOLIS — After losing in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo acknowledged his disappointment while saying he needs to look in the mirror to find ways to improve.
“It doesn’t feel good, man,” Antetokounmpo said Tuesday night after the Bucks fell to the Indiana Pacers 119-118 in overtime of Game 5 despite his 30 points, 20 rebounds and 13 assists. “Just got to look in the mirror and I just have to be better … as a team we work hard. We play the right way. Not being able to win games definitely hurts, but you got to keep doing what you’re doing.”
Antetokounmpo did not want to discuss his future in Milwaukee after the game. He has long stated his desire to win a second championship with the Bucks, but they’ve won just one playoff series since that 2021 title.
“I’m not going to do this,” he said when asked if he thinks he can win another title in Milwaukee. “I’m not going to do that. I know how it’s going to translate. I don’t know, man. I wish I was still playing. I wish I was still competing and going back and working out.”
Antetokounmpo said he was disappointed not only in the loss but because they couldn’t win for Damian Lillard, who tore his left Achilles tendon in Sunday’s Game 4 after he had returned to the Bucks early from a blood clot in his opposite leg.
“I felt like we owed this game to Dame,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s what I felt. I felt like he came back maybe earlier than what he’s supposed to, went down, sacrificed his body for us. I felt like as a team — the least we can do is show up and win the game. For Dame. Obviously it hurts that we didn’t win the game, but it hurts more that we wasn’t able to win the game for Dame.”
The Bucks jumped ahead 13-0 behind a new starting lineup that saw AJ Green, Bobby Portis and Kevin Porter Jr. inserted alongside Antetokounmpo and Gary Trent Jr.
Trent finished with 33 points but also had two costly turnovers down the stretch that helped open the door for Indiana’s comeback. The Bucks took a 118-111 lead with 40 seconds remaining in overtime, but the Pacers ended the game on an 8-0 run to move into the next round.
All game, Antetokounmpo set the tone, creating on offense as the lead initiator and posting the first triple-double in an elimination game in franchise history. It was a mindset born from a conversation he had with Bucks coach Doc Rivers before the game.
“I told him on every miss I needed Magic Johnson in transition, and he did that,” Rivers said. “He was facilitating. Then at halftime I said, now we need you to be Giannis. We need you to score, too.”
“To me, that’s one of the best games I’ve seen him play because it wasn’t just about scoring. It was about his playmaking and his total package. He was absolutely amazing.”
Antetokounmpo believed it was a glimpse into the next evolution in his game. He became the first player to average at least 32 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in the first five games of a single postseason in NBA history, according to ESPN research.
“I always felt like that would be my last phase,” he said. “As a guy that can playmake and can set up a team, be like a legit point forward out there.
“You see a lot of people that can handle the ball and put their teammates in the right place and make the team better. So that I enjoyed that. If I have the opportunity to come back next year and be able to do that, I can help the team in that way.”
Source: espn.com