The MVP of the night | Giannis Antetokounmpo, Mr. Efficiency | NBA

In trouble with his left ankle and absent the day before against the Blazers, Giannis Antetokounmpo showed last night that he should not worry too much about him and that he had regained all of his means.

A little less than seven months after his last game at 50 points which crowned the Bucks’ championship title at the end of Game 6 against the Suns, the “Greek Freak” returned to the table, delivering a lesson in efficiency, at 17/21 on shots!

“Hard to imagine that he can score 50 points in 21 attempts”

With its athletic dimension, this ability to score at a high percentage is also its strength, and tonight it was the Pacers who paid the price, losing 128-119.

“I feel like he had one of those games recently, over 40 points on just 20 shots attempted”recalled coach Mike Budenholzer, referring to the 44 points at 17/20 shooting against the Lakers on February 8. “If you put those two games together, it’s Giannis. He is special. It’s really hard to imagine that he can score 50 points in 21 attempts.

Giannis Antetokounmpo activated ten minutes from the end, when Indiana returned to -4 (101-97). The “Greek Freak” then pulled out all the stops as he opened fire with a 3-point shot and ultimately passed 19 points over the period to allow Milwaukee to snatch victory and climb over the podium of a very dense and tight Eastern Conference.

Very frank in free throws

Author of his best game of the season with a very clean 14 out of 18 in free throws, the number 34 took the opportunity to remind that the objective was above all collective and that victory came before everything else.

“Normally, when you play a game like that, it’s because you’re good in the second half and you put in a lot of shots and free throws. But you never know at the start of the game that you are going to score 50 points., said Giannis Antetokounmpo. “You just try to play the right way, put your teammates in the best condition, be aggressive. There are nights where you will only put a few shots and others where you will reach the bar of 50 points. In the end, all that matters to me; it’s that I was able to have fun from the beginning to the end of the match and that we were able to win”.

Unstoppable as soon as he has the slightest space to sneak into the racket, he took pleasure in pounding that of the Pacers, ending his demonstration with an alley-oop sent to the head of the racket by Khris Middleton.

“I just try to play to my strengths,” he concluded, as if nothing had happened before attacking a big piece this time, in the preamble to the All-Star Game, with the reception this Thursday of the Sixers, pretenders to the succession of the Bucks, but humiliated that night by the Celtics.