Giannis Antetokounmpo Postgame Press Conference | 04.29.25

Giannis Antetokounmpo Postgame Press Conference | 04.29.25

Giannis, um, up a couple possessions, both end of regulation, end of overtime, and to be sitting here with a loss. Uh, just sort of what kind of broke down, how disappointing to not close it out when when you kind of had every chance there. Um, a lot of things happened down the stretch. Um, you can break it down possession by possession, but like it doesn’t matter. We we lost the game. Uh, we’re sitting right here, right now. uh and uh the season is over. So, we just got to do when we in a position like that, we just got to take care of the ball. Then I got when we switch, I got to be up on the screen. Um name Hart, he did deep three. Got to do a better job being up. Uh H Burton drove the ball. We fouled him, sent him to the free throw line. we can just just let him let the ball up. Now you’re up two. You put the ball in. Uh and it’s a free throw game. You’re up two, you make one free throw, you make both free throws. It’s a fourpoint game. Uh we just we did a lot of mistakes and in the end of the overtime and in the end of uh the game. Um yeah, it definitely definitely cost us. I think I’m very very proud of everybody. Everybody, you know, played their their heart of, you know, out the fight from beginning till the end. We guarded. We were physical. We’re playing together. We move the ball. Everybody was shooting the ball with confidence. Everybody was decisive. Uh was picking one another up. Very, very proud of of my guys, the group. Um, you know, obviously it’s not what they we wanted to go back to Milwaukee and what, you know, hurts me the most. I don’t care about losing the game and all that. I feel like um we we owed this game to Dame. You know, that’s what I felt. I felt like we he came back maybe earlier than what he’s supposed to. Uh went down, sacrificed his, you know, body for us. And I felt like as a team, win or lose, home or road, playoff game, no playoff game, like the least we can do is show up and win a game for Dame. Uh uh obviously it hurts that we didn’t win the game, but it hurts more that um we wasn’t able to win the game for Dame and u go back to Milwaukee. Um third year in a row, fourth year I guess, not reaching the end goal. Um, how how do you process that or is it is it disappointment? Where where do you kind of put this to to once again be out this early in a playoff? Yeah, it doesn’t feel good, man. I It doesn’t feel good. Um, just got to look myself in the mirror and I I just have to I have to be better. I have to be better. I try every single year, you know, work in the offseason, come back, you know. Um, one second. Um, yeah, it doesn’t it definitely doesn’t feel good. You know, I think as a team, we we work hard. Uh, we do the right things, we play the right way. [Music] um not being able to win games. It definitely definitely hurts, but um you got you got to keep doing what you’re doing and keep look at yourself in the mirror and see what you can improve and how you can be better and come right back and compete. That’s that’s what competitors do. Um, I was just going to ask like how do you keep doing it year after year and like to to have these these disappointments and then just come back the next year and keep trying and keep trying to go up the hill. feel like you know there’s a lot of times that you know life has made me you know sad or like frustrated and uh since I was a kid I never uh I never gave up you know I always try to um find solutions in my life which I think if translate to the basketball court I always try to even though things might not happen the way I wanted to happen I always have you know class and I have this u optimistic mentality of coming back, keep on working and uh there’s going to be a day that’s going to be your turn, you know. Uh it cannot always go your way. I’m not I’m like a growing up I was never like spoiled, you know. I was never like a a brat thinking that oh everything would go my way in life and it’s supposed to go this way and I supposed to win every single year and uh I put the work in and it’s supposed to translate on the court like sometimes it it doesn’t and and um you have to understand that I keep on believing in myself keep on believing in God and knowing that he puts me in a position that I supposed to be and he never make mistakes and I just keep on coming. Keep on coming every single year and one day it’s going to be my turn. Um, two years now that you’ve gotten to be coached by Doc. Just what has that relationship been like for you and and what do you feel like he he can he has helped you do or or can continue to help you do? I love I love uh I love Doc. I think he’s a great great human being. I think great dude knows how to uplift your spirit. Knows always what uh the right thing to say at the right moment. you guys have been around him. He’s been in the NBA for 50 years. Um, I don’t know, 50 years, maybe. I don’t know how many years. A lot of years. I remember when I was a kid. Um, watch him on TV. Uh, man, I just I love him. Not only as a coach, as a as a person, I think he’s a great person. And, uh, if you’re not a good person and a good coach, you cannot be around for this long. and you know, I love working with him. Jiannis, you’ve always kind of stated about wanting to win and win championships and winning a second championship and how important it is to you. Um, do you think that you can still win that second championship here in Milwaukee after a third straight first round exit? Um, look, I’m not I’m not I’m not going to do this. Um, I’m not I’m not going to do this. I know how this going to whatever I say, I know how it’s going to translate. I’m not I I I don’t know, man. I I wish I was still playing. I wish I was still like competing and going back to Milwaukee. I don’t know. Um just sorry. Uh just I mean the the guys you had on the floor obviously without Dame. Um just how much uh uh faith or belief in still the guys that you have in the locker room the way that Joe showed the fight tonight and just even these last uh the end of the regular season there? kind of how much of you know I guess belief in the roster in the locker room that you still have. How much belief I have on my guys that I just played the game? Yeah. So I should Jamaal I should say I have zero belief and 30 minutes ago I was fighting for my life with the the dudes you know Gary Bobby Scoot AJ Jericho U Pat Cous Brooke and I can sit here and say I had zero belief or I don’t have as much belief anymore to my teammates if I said that would that be fair to them that would never to be fair to them and it’s not fair to say something that is disrespectful towards them you know and as a leader 30 minutes ago I me and my teammates left everything our heart on the floor everything we had on the floor you know so I believe to them today I believe to them tomorrow I always believed in them and I always believe that we can win a game you know uh and I believe we’ll never go away um this end of obviously you’d want Dame back and healthy this that is unfortunately usually a long-term injury um the way that you handle the ball today um end of season how do you view that for yourself I know you want to level up and be better we’ve seen this a different side of your playmaking another 30 20 10 night tonight 30 20 you know what I mean what what can you take from that and is that something you think going forward here you can lean into I uh I always I don’t want to talk about myself but I always believed like this this phases uh into my and I I always felt like that was that will be my last phase uh as a as a guy that can play make and can set up a team and be like a legit point forward out there. Uh at times I show that I can do it. Uh at times when I have a great point guard next to me um I just let the guy do his job and I do my job. Uh but I believe I’ve seen like one of the greatest players LeBron James being the best at it. You know, you see like a lot of people playing that way right now from from um Saka from Pablo um Scotty Barnes. you see like a lot of people that can handle the ball and put the teammates in the right place and play make and uh make the team better. I something that I enjoy to do. Uh if I had have opportunity to come back next year and be able to do that, I would love I think I I can be good. I can help the team in that way. Uh, speaking to that, did you did it feel like this is maybe the most control you’ve been able to exert on a game? Like just just kind of picking out right now I need to go get a bucket. Right now I can bring the defense here and make that pass. Like yeah, I think you get more uh comfortable because you know you always you have the ball. So you just pick and choose like when you play off the ball you got to be very decisive. It’s either you go downhill, you shoot the ball or you make something happen. Like when you have the ball all the time now you got to pick and choose. Sometimes you got to be aggressive, go to your spot. Sometimes you got to get your teammates involved. Sometimes you got to move it. Um, you got to read the the momentum of the game. Um, if they have the momentum, now is the time that as a team we got to move the ball. Everybody got to attack. You know, somebody got to set a screen either stick it or go so I can get downhill. If I don’t have nothing swing, go play the second side. like um I think I am able at this moment in my career to kind of read the game better. Uh but I think that I I can still improve in that area a lot. Um I I don’t really see you as someone that gets into it with people after the game. It looked like you were kind of standing there by the three-point line, then all of a sudden you’re in the middle of kind of everything. Just what what happened kind of out on the floor after the game? Nothing. I This is the last I’m going to say. I don’t I won’t talk a lot. We lost the game. it doesn’t really matter. One thing I’ll say is that um I believe like being humbled in victory. That’s the way I am now. There’s can be a lot of people out there that are like no when you when you win the game you got t and you know it’s it’s a green light for you to be disrespectful towards somebody else. I disagree. I’ve won the championship. They haven’t. Okay. And that doesn’t say anything. I’m not trying to minimize their effort, but I I remember when I won my mom my mom that she’s she’ve never missed the games from from February February 11th or 13 when she came in u in Milwaukee against the Knicks. She’ve never missed the game. When we won the championship, I remember my mom, she was scared to cross. She was like, “Am I allowed to come and hug my son?” Um, I see except now my brother does does media for this year. He’s wants to come back and play, but like except in that you’ve never seen my family like see course I see this is not something that we do. We don’t uh I try to keep my family away from the game. Uh, but losing the game, emotions run high, having a fan, which at the moment I thought it was a fan, but then I realized it was Tyrese son, which I love Tyrese. I think he’s a great competitor. He was his dad. Sorry. Coming in the floor and um showing me his son a towel with his face. This is what we do. This is what we effing do. This the f we do this. I feel like that’s very very disrespectful. You you know um my dad my dad if you guys go and ask and learn my dad’s not with us no more. My dad used to come in the family room and was the most respectful person ever. You know, when you you come from nothing and you’ve worked your whole life to uh sell stuff in the street and your whole life you’ll be scared of uh the the police of deporting you and sending you back to your country. You have to protect your kids with all means. You create this mentality of being humble your whole life to not kind of disrespect anybody not make uh the tension high the emotions high so anybody can you know snitch on you say something bad about you. So when he came here, I remembered I was like, “Dad, why why are you so humble? Why are you going to the family room? You don’t even say a word. You sit in the back. Why? Why? Why are you like that? Don’t worry. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry.” That that’s how I grew up. That’s what I had around. So when I see other dads, which don’t disrespect, maybe if my son play basketball, I might be in the court. I might be the one on the court and like 20 years later you can play this interview and say, “Janice, you you’re contradicting yourself.” But we’ll see in 20 years. I’m talking about right now how I feel, you know, having um somebody’s that which I I’m h I’m happy for him and I’m happy for his son and I’m happy that he’s happy for his son. That’s how you’re supposed to feel. But coming to me and disrespecting me and uh cursing at me, I think it’s totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. Okay. And the the I’m not the guy that points fingers because in my neighborhood snitches get stitches. So I don’t want to say something, you know, for him to say to get fined or anything, but it’s not respectful. I talk with him at the end and we u I think we’re in a good place.

SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/BucksYTSub

All-Access: Welcome to Milwaukee – https://youtu.be/-CvqyrKHgtU

All-Access: Tipoff – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXtBK6JXDE

NBA Finals All-Access: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrkYUe261zvdsraTw4w6fHGs5qXqFl7p0

All-Access: Bucks Meet Neymar & Mbappe – https://youtu.be/eY_Pfgx6sDE

All-Access: Bucks Travel To Paris, Visit PSG & More – https://youtu.be/Wbmmn4D8Z8w

Get highlights on-demand, watch games LIVE and get full stats in our FREE app for iOS and Android. Download: http://Bucks.com/App

Connect with the Bucks

Facebook: http://facebook.com/bucks
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bucks
Instagram: http://instagram.com/bucks

#nba #milwaukeebucks #milwaukee #bucks #fearthedeer #greekfreak #giannis #damianlillard #dametime #414