The Milwaukee Bucks are slowly turning things around after a rocky start to their NBA regular season, which saw them stumble to a 2-8 record. With two straight victories, they now sit at 6-9, and team leader Giannis Antetokounmpo remains positive about their direction moving forward.
Antetokounmpo led the Bucks to their second consecutive win with a dominant performance in a 122-106 victory over the Chicago Bulls. The Greek star finished as the game’s top scorer, pouring in 41 points, while adding 9 rebounds and 8 assists, narrowly missing a triple-double.
After the game, Giannis expressed optimism about the team’s future and the long season ahead. “It’s a lot of games. There’s 67 games left” he emphasized. “We are trending towards the right direction. We’re winning at home, right? It’s not that bad. At the end of the day, we have a lot of season left. A lot of season left.”
Antetokounmpo went on to stress the importance of resilience. “It’s easy for us to put our heads down, but we’re not going to do that,” he said. “We are not going to feel bad about ourselves. I don’t expect nobody to feel bad about us. People want us to be in this position. People want us to fight for our lives.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks drives to the basket during the second half of a game against the Chicago Bulls at Fiserv Forum. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Antetokounmpo reflects on Bucks’ tough losing streak
The Bucks endured a brutal stretch earlier in the season, and Giannis reflected on that challenging period. “I think we lost 5 in a row or 6 in a row, something like that. We all know that feeling, and it was horrible,” he admitted. “It felt like we lost 20 in a row to me; I don’t know how it was for the other guys. So, we don’t really want to go back there. I don’t think anybody wants to go back there.”
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Giannis added that the focus now is on steady improvement. “We just want to be trending toward the right direction, playing good basketball, trusting one another, moving the ball, and putting ourselves in a position to win games and try to win as many games as we can.”
Brook Lopez highlights Bucks’ progress
Center Brook Lopez also played a key role in the Bucks’ win, contributing 21 points and praising the team’s recent improvements. “We know the team that we are,” Lopez said post-game. “We’ve known the team that we are all season long. We just had to prove it by winning games. It’s gotten better and better.”
He continued: “Obviously the last few, we’re happy with winning. They were close ones, but we put in a lot of work. We’re doing great. Got better tonight—it wasn’t as close tonight. Just again, keep trending that way, keep building, keep pushing, keep playing closer and closer to a full game. Everyone being better, and we’re in a great place right now.”
