Michael Carter-Williams recalls how Giannis Antetokounmpo fought Mike Dunleavy after he punched – “He shifted some of my teeth” originally appeared on Basketball Network.

Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has always been loyal to a fault. Even when he was a 20-year-old playing in his second NBA season and first playoff series, the 6’11” prodigy treated his teammates like he would his brothers. If anyone messed with them, they were messing with Giannis.

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During the first round of the 2015 playoffs, Mike Dunleavy learned that lesson the hard way. In Game 6 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls, tempers flared as both teams fought for a spot in the second round.

Late in the second quarter, Dunleavy flared to the wing for a three-pointer when, out of nowhere, the two-time MVP hit him with a shoulder block, knocking him straight into the courtside seats.

Lest anyone think the “Greek Freak” did that out of frustration (the Bulls were up by 30 at that point), his teammate at that time, Michael Carter-Williams, revealed that it was payback for the cheap shot Dunleavy gave him in the first quarter.

MCW got punched in the face

It was a contentious first-round clash between the third-seeded Bulls and the sixth-seeded Bucks. Though Chicago won the first three games, Milwaukee countered with two straight to close the series gap to 3-2. In Game 6, MCW disclosed that the Bulls veterans, led by Dunleavy, pulled out all the stops to get them off their games.

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“I went up for a layup, and he punched me in the face. You can see it clearly like he shifted some of my teeth. So I had to go in the back, I had to get my teeth pushed back in, and then came back in the game,” MCW said on Stacey King’s podcast.

The former Duke forward wasn’t done and targeted Giannis next, believing he could intimidate the young man.

“He threw another cheap shot, and I told Giannis, I was like, “Oh, this motherf****r hit me off.’ I saw it on the replay, and I was like, ‘I’m getting him back.’ So then he cheapshotted Giannis like a few plays later. So he was like, ‘You know, you just cheapshotted my teammate, then you just cheapshotted me,'” Carter-Williams shared.

“So then he ran down, and that was crazy because I was thinking the same thing, but I was like — you know — like he just beat me to it,” he added. “If you watch the play, I’m literally standing right there next to Giannis ’cause I saw him get cheapshotted.”

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Related: “He can hardly see outta one eye and he comes out and practices” – John Salley on the extraordinary work ethic of the Bad Boys Pistons

Veteran shenanigans

Now retired from pro hoops, MCW now looks back on the incident with a different lens. After a scintillating performance in Game 5, where he had 22 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, a steal and three blocks, Chicago had him in their sights.

“It was veteran tactics, right? Like it was a physical game; he was being a little cheap, but we were closing. We were closing in on the series. I think we had won two in a row. It was game six, right? So the series was 3–2, and they were up 3–0, and we won two in a row. And they had to take us off our rhythm,” the 6’5″ point guard surmised.

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The Bulls ended the Bucks’ season in that game, winning in overwhelming fashion, 120-66. Giannis bore the brunt of his actions, as he not only got ejected for committing a flagrant two foul but was also suspended for one game the following season due to his actions.

Related: Brian Windhorst explains why Giannis’ future is essential for this year’s free agency: “The league has been watching this for a year”

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on May 28, 2025, where it first appeared.