By the Eurohoops team/ [email protected]
The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Brooklyn Netsbut potentially even bigger news is the return of Giannis Antetokounmpo to the court.
He didn’t miss many games, but a hamstring issue sidelined him. However, he managed to recover quickly and continued to help the team secure the best possible position in the Eastern Conference standings heading into the playoffs.
“You try to control what you can control. Things like this are going to pop up from time to time. It’s kind of unexpected, but at the end of the day, these are the cards you’ve been dealt, and you just have to keep understanding them, keep playing through the pain, keep playing through the adversity,” Giannis said after scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a home win over the Nets.
His 65th appearance of the season against Brooklyn made him eligible for individual awards. However, he looks at the bigger picture.
“My goal was to play 82, but when the goal collapses, you have to fall back on the second. There is a larger goal to capture here, and you need to think about the bigger picture. I could play through the pain, but it’s not smart in the long run.”
Antetokounmpo also mentioned the importance of having an experienced coach like Doc Rivers to deal with injuries.
“He understands. He played and coached the sport for a long time. He’s been through the same kind of thing his last two years in the league, so he knows what it feels like, how painful it is or if it’s not painful. If I’m BSing, he can tell. It’s good to have a coach like that.»
Among the reporters who interviewed him in the locker room after the game was his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who asked him if he played through injury in the 2021 NBA Finals and helped his team win the championship.
“A lot of times it put me in a position to succeed, but it also put me in a position to not succeed. My greatest strength as a person and the thing that allows me to be who I am is my stubbornness, but it is also my greatest weakness. I had a conversation with Kobe in 2018 and he said, “My greatest strength is that I’m an asshole, and my greatest weakness is that I’m an asshole.” So, sometimes if you can channelize your weakness in the right way and demonstrate maturity, it can set you up for success,»concluded Giannis Antetokounmpo.
