This is both very good news and a little vague.
Report: Giannis Antetokounmpo has “no structural damage” to left knee, doubtful for Game 5 — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 38 points, Khris Middleton added 31 and the Milwaukee Bucks outlasted the New Orleans Pelicans 129-125 on Thursday night. It was the fourth straight win for the Bucks, who finished their first half of the season in third place in the Eastern Conference. Zion Williamson scored 34 points and […]
Antetokounmpo scores 38 as Bucks outlast Pelicans 129-125 — The China Post, Taiwan
A foul called on Tristan Thompson at the very end of Wednesday’s season opener at TD Garden could have cost the Celtics the game. And apparently, it shouldn’t have been called at all. Boston was up 122-120 when Thompson was called for a loose ball foul, sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to the line with a chance […]
Last-Second Tristan Thompson Foul Should Not Have Been Called Vs. Bucks, Per NBA — NESN.com
GMs also have LaMelo Ball winning Rookie of the Year.
NBA GMs predict Lakers to win title, Antetokounmpo to win MVP (again) — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
The Milwaukee Bucks’ five-year, $225 million extension of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has changed its plans around its jersey patch.
Milwaukee Bucks Credit ‘Giannis Effect’ for Uptick in Business, Now Rethinking Jersey Patch Plans — NBC Chicago
Sign In Well, you can stop speculating about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s NBA future. The two-time NBA MVP has agreed to sign a five-year, $228.2 million supermax contract extension with the Milwaukee Bucks, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday, citing sources. Once completed, the deal will be the largest in NBA history. Here are the details: Breaking:…
Giannis Antetokounmpo Reportedly Signing Record-Setting Deal With Bucks — NESN.com
Giannis Antetokounmpo super-max-extension watch continues.
Report: Bogdan Bogdanovic was Giannis Antetokounmpo’s preferred addition to Bucks — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
To be clear: Milwaukee is not trading Antetokounmpo even if he does not sign the super-max contract offer.
Another reminder: The Bucks will not trade Giannis Antetokounmpo — ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
12:01 PM ET In a three-hour lunch meeting Friday in Milwaukee, Bucks co-owner and governor Marc Lasry made it clear to reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo that the franchise is willing to spend into the luxury tax to deliver him a championship supporting cast, sources told ESPN. The Bucks’ payroll will be close to the proposed […]
Sources: Bucks tell Giannis they’ll spend on cast — The Patriots Report
With the Milwaukee Bucks‘ season over, their focus turns to the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The reigning NBA MVP is eligible to sign a super-max extension with the Bucks this offseason, and multiple sources have been “adamant” that Milwaukee won’t trade Antetokounmpo if he doesn’t ink a deal, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. An Antetokounmpo […]
Report: Bucks won’t trade Giannis if he doesn’t sign extension — Portal4News
With the Milwaukee Bucks‘ season over, their focus turns to the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The reigning NBA MVP is eligible to sign a super-max extension with the Bucks this offseason, and multiple sources have been “adamant” that Milwaukee won’t trade Antetokounmpo if he doesn’t ink a deal, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
An Antetokounmpo super-max contract with the Bucks could be worth approximately $220 million – roughly $80 million more than he could get from another team as a free agent in 2021. Those figures hinge on a projected 2020-21 NBA salary cap of $109.1 million.
If the Bucks don’t re-sign the superstar or deal him prior to next season’s trade deadline, they risk losing him for nothing as an unrestricted free agent in 2021.
Reports have circulated that the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors are considered front-runners to land Antetokounmpo if he leaves Milwaukee. Those two teams are currently forecasted to hold salary-cap space in 2021, but any trade involving Giannis would change that equation.
Antetokounmpo missed Milwaukee’s season-ending Game 5 loss to the Heat on Tuesday due to a sprained ankle.Tags:Basketball
The Milwaukee Bucks avoided a sweep by beating the Miami Heat 118-115 in overtime of Game 4.
No Giannis, no problem: Bucks top Heat in OT, force Game 5 — The Florida Daily Post
Giannis Antetokounmpo was waiting in the locker room for his teammates Sunday, standing on his bad right ankle to greet every one of them.
His day ended early.
His season isn’t over yet.
Khris Middleton scored 36 points, including a big 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left in overtime, and the Milwaukee Bucks avoided a sweep by beating the Miami Heat 118-115 in overtime of Game 4 of the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Heat still lead 3-1, but the Bucks — the best team in the regular season — are still alive, even after Antetokounmpo left early in the second quarter with an aggravation of his sprained right ankle.
“Khris is very unique,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s got a way about him. He wanted to play. He asked to stay in the game.”
As if there was any other option. Middleton’s season-high before Sunday was 40 minutes; he logged 48 in Game 4, taking over with Antetokounmpo watching from the locker room.
“Just keep fighting,” said Middleton, who also had eight rebounds and eight assists. “That’s all my teammates did.”
Bam Adebayo had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists for Miami. Duncan Robinson scored 20 points, Jae Crowder had 18, and Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler each finished with 17 for the Heat.
“We didn’t deserve to win that game,” Butler said.
Miami had an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, promptly allowed the Bucks to score the next 12, and now needs to come back Tuesday in an effort to finish the series off.
“At the end of the day, we should have played like we did in Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3,” Adebayo said.
Antetokounmpo scored 19 points for the Bucks in only 11 minutes, while Brook Lopez and Eric Bledsoe each had 14 for Milwaukee. George Hill added 12 for the Bucks.
Miami managed only two points in the first 4:30 of overtime, got within one on a 3-pointer from Tyler Herro, but Middleton delivered the biggest shot of the night to make it 116-112.
Herro made another 3-pointer with 3.0 seconds left, but Middleton sealed it with a pair of free throws — and Miami coach Erik Spoelstra lauded Milwaukee’s effort afterward.
“The reality is, they deserved to win the game,” Spoelstra said. “They were doing things with more force, more consistency.”
Antetokounmpo had 19 of Milwaukee’s first 30 points, shooting 8-for-10 from the floor. But in an instant, everything changed for the Bucks.
Antetokounmpo aggravated his sprained right ankle with 10:18 left in the second quarter, rolling it inward — just as he did in Game 3 on Friday — as he tried to drive past Miami’s Andre Iguodala. He tumbled to the court, grabbing the ankle and screaming in pain.
He took the free throws; without doing that, he would not have been permitted to return. But at halftime, the Bucks delivered the word that he would not be back.
So, his game was over.
The Bucks’ season wasn’t. Milwaukee said Antetokounmpo would get plenty of treatment Sunday night and Monday before a decision is made about his availability for Tuesday.
“He’s going to be back,” Bledsoe said.
Middleton did all he could to keep the Bucks afloat, scoring 21 points in the third quarter — the highest-scoring quarter of his career — on 6 for 9 shooting from the field and 7 for 7 from the foul line. His previous quarter-best was 20, on Nov. 1, 2017, against Charlotte.
He set the tone, and the Bucks’ season is still alive.
“We’ve got to fight every night to keep on playing,” Middleton said.
Bucks: Milwaukee missed 19 consecutive 3-pointers — its last 12 of Game 3 and first seven of Game 4 — before Antetokounmpo connected late in the first quarter. … Milwaukee won despite getting outscored 51-33 on 3-pointers.
Heat: Miami was looking to become the first No. 5 seed in NBA history to go 8-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Heat were the last unbeaten team in this year’s playoffs. … The Heat lost for only the fourth time in their last 17 series-closeout opportunities.
The Bucks avoided becoming the first overall No. 1 seed to get swept from the playoffs since 2001 when the Los Angeles Lakers did it to top-seeded San Antonio in the Western Conference finals. Budenholzer was a Spurs assistant at that time.
Middleton wasn’t the only Milwaukee player to log big minutes. Lopez played 42, Bledsoe 40, and Hill 37. “We’re absolutely a family. We always have each other’s backs,” Lopez said.
Game 5 is Tuesday.
The Milwaukee bucks and their superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo were the Eastern Conference favorites to make the NBA Finals when the playoffs started, but last night they dropped their third straight game to the Heat and are now on the brink of elimination. Last season, the Bucks won 60 games and finish first in the […]
The Bucks are down 3-0 to the Heat, and that means big questions about Giannis Antetokounmpo — Aaron’s Blog
The view from left field 