Giannis Antetokounmpo: I'm not in rhythm right now
At the rim, where he made 73.6 percent of his shots in his first 24 games this season, Giannis Antetokounmpo has made just 57.4 percent over the last three games, according to stats from Cleaning the Glass. “I’ve gotta be more aggressive,” he said. “I’ve gotta get back in rhythm. I’m not in rhythm right now. Missed a lot of layups. I feel like the illness took a lot, a toll on me. Slowly, slowly, I’m getting back, ramping back to it. It was the first time I was out — not for the duration for the nine days, because I wasn’t for nine days sick — but those four, five days that I was, it took a lot out of my body. “Think about it like a savings account. Now I’m in the minus. So, I’ve gotta keep building. I’ve gotta build my body, gotta get some weights, gotta get some food in me, gotta get some cardio in me to go back to the positive and be able to compete, because I’m digging myself into a hole right now.”
Source: New York Times
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Since returning from their respective illnesses:
- Lillard is shooting 32.4% from the field (normally 45%)
- Antetokounmpo is shooting 57.4% at the rim (normally 73.6%)
Interesting stats in today's story about the Bucks' latest loss at @TheAthletic: nytimes.com/athletic/60385… - 12:03 PM
After another loss, Giannis Antetokounmpo reflected on the period he spent sidelined due to illness
"“Think about it like a savings account – now I’m in the minus.”
eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/17… - 6:45 AM
FINAL: Blazers 105, Bucks 102
- Antetokounmpo 31pts/11reb/2ast/2blk
- Green 21pts/2reb/3ast
- Lillard 16pts/2reb/6ast
The Bucks are now 17-16 on the season after consecutive losses to the Nets and Blazers. - 10:14 PM
Chauncey Billups is challenging the foul called on this Giannis Antetokounmpo miss in traffic at the rim with 32.8 seconds left.
As it stands, it's a foul on Deandre Ayton and two free throws for Antetokounmpo. - 10:02 PM
Blazers have two timeouts with 32.8 seconds remaining and I think because of that, Chauncey is going to challenge the foul call sending Giannis to the line with the game tied at 100-100 - 10:01 PM
Giannis Antetokounmpo misses one at the rim and then Khris Middleton gets a turnover trying to lob it into Antetokounmpo.
5-0 run for the Blazers. Timeout to Rivers.
Blazers up, 98-94, with 3:54 left. - 9:53 PM
It's possible Giannis has missed more shots at the rim tonight than he has in his career against Portland - 9:51 PM
After not playing in the first half, Ryan Rollins has checked into the game for Damian Lillard.
Bucks going Rollins, Green, Trent, Prince and Antetokounmpo here to end the third quarter. - 9:27 PM
Giannis Antetokounmpo whistled for a charge on that fastbreak and the Blazers will hold onto the lead heading into this timeout.
Blazers up, 24-23, with 1:22 left in the first quarter. Antetokounmpo (8pts/2reb) and Lillard (7pts/2stl) have not come out of the game yet. - 8:30 PM
A sleepy start for the Bucks tonight and they're down, 14-12, with 6:05 left in the first quarter.
Andre Jackson Jr. hasn't scored, but he has three assists. Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks with 6 points. - 8:18 PM
More on this storyline
“I don’t know where we are in the standings; but like we gotta turn it around right now. It’s January, February, four to six weeks before the all-star break this is where you try to rack up some wins, start to go on a run and try to get momentum. Hopefully we can do it.” -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / January 5, 2025
"At times we play good basketball. And at times we don’t," Antetokounmpo said. "There’s a lot of times we step on the court and we feel like we can beat any team in the league, but there’s times we step on the court and any team in the league can beat us – which is incredible. -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / January 5, 2025
They will need to do a much better job building the “winning habits” Antetokounmpo has spoken about for so many years on a consistent basis. And while the Bucks’ 17-15 start has not been all that convincing, Antetokounmpo still believes this team is capable of regularly building those habits. “We’ve shown it,” he said. “We started the season 2-8. We came back. We won nine out of 10 games. Went 7-0 in the in-season tournament cup. Went to the final four, beat two very, very good teams. We’ve shown it. “When we’re locked in, when we play as a team, we can be good. And when we don’t play as a team and we’re not locked in, we can be very bad. So we’ve just got to push ourselves towards the right direction, which is compete, play as a team, play to win, for as many games as we can.” -via New York Times / January 3, 2025
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Giannis Antetokounmpo: I'm not in rhythm right now