After a disastrous start to the 2024-25 campaign, the Bucks have now improved their record to 8-9, with stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard leading the charge. Just a few days ago, the Milwaukee players were subject of heavy criticism, and now they’ve responded in the best possible way.
The Greek Freak dominated on both ends of the court, producing blocks on one side and scoring 32 points on the other. Once the game was over, he posted on his social media accounts that he “loved” his haters, sending a clear message to his critics.
As so much negativity has surrounded the Bucks camp in recent weeks, the forward decided to address it. “I don’t follow this stuff, but I have a lot of people who appreciate me and send me good stats to make me feel good about myself. Others, not so much,” he told the press after their hard-fought victory over the Hornets.
Love my haters, they’re my biggest fans 📣🖤 pic.twitter.com/oQpYKUiR6X
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) November 24, 2024
He then went into specifics, calling out his own stats. “I shoot 73% late-game free throws. From three, I shoot 50%, and on mid-range, I’m 31 out of 58—that’s 54%. I’d call myself clutch,” he said while smiling, as this weekend he shot 12-of-23 from the field, dropped one of his three attempts from range, and went 7-of-10 from the free-throw line.
The 29-year-old also grabbed 11 rebounds, 9 of them on the defensive end, handed out six assists to his teammates and recorded two blocks against Charlotte. Once the contest was done, he reflected on how Milwaukee has skied off their early-seasons struggles.
“I feel like going into the season, it was sloppy in the beginning,” Antetokounmpo shared. “I don’t know if our confidence, if everybody’s was high — we were losing games. It’s OK. We have to figure things out, and I think now as a team we’ve figured things out.”
Giannis revealed that they are done feeling miserable and only want to win. “We don’t want to feel what we felt three, four weeks ago. I don’t think anybody in this locker room wants to go back there. It was miserable for everybody. We were coming in here and working practice three hours, four hours, trying to figure things, what was going bad,” he said.
Co-star Damian Lillard explains what are his team’s key factors behind their impressive season turnaround after four-straight wins
After Milwaukee secured their 125-119 victory against the Hornets this weekend, both Lillard and Antetokounmpo attended the press to talk about their fourth-consecutive win and how they’ve managed to turn the season around for their team.
The former Portland superstar reflected on what they’ve gone through to finally land at a 8-9 record. “The way we started the season was rough,” Dame revealed. “But we’re starting to play the type of basketball we wanted to play coming into the season, and now we’re starting to feel good about ourselves.”
Lillard then talked about the team’s growing chemistry. “I think on offense and defense, we’re starting to do what the coaches want us to do, and we’re getting the results that we want. Our group chat has been extremely active just trying to encourage each other,” he said. “I think it’s coming together on the court.”
Even though Charlotte fell to defeat, LaMelo Ball impressed everyone at the Fiserv Forum with another historic display, as he became the third-youngest NBA player to ever record 50 points and 11 assists in a single match.
