Giannis Antetokounmpo speaks on ‘must win’ heading to game in Dallas
Giannis Antetokounmpo speaks on ‘must win’ upcoming game in Dallas and Rivers, Kuzma react to the Bucks’ loss to Rockets on Nov. 9, 2025.
It’s still very early – just 10 games in to an 82 game NBA season – but the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in dead last place in one small, but sometimes crucially important, category: Free throws.
The Bucks are shooting 68.9% collectively from the charity stripe to be ranked 30th in the league.
The Bucks only made 14 of 24 free throws in the loss against Houston on November 9 at Fiserv Forum. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished 9 of 14 from the free throw line for the game overall with his 37-point performance, but missed a few late.
It has to be frustrating because Antetokounmpo has worked tirelessly on free throws throughout his 13-year career, adjusting his pre-shot approach, and practicing while tired, under pressure and under duress. It’s why he converted 17 of 19 free throws in the epic 50-point, Game 6 winning performance he had in the NBA Finals to put away the Suns. It’s why his free throw shooting was stellar in that playoff run when it needed to be.
He’s logged countless hours at the line as well. He’s the first one out at halftime to shoot free throws during every game. He’s been known to take the court after games to throw up more free throws. In sports its called repetitions – repeatedly doing something over and over in a drill. With everyone else having an opinion, he just kept working.
And on Sunday with a 2:30 p.m. game time tip off, he was even at Fiserv Forum by 11 a.m. just for general preparation. There’s no question he works obsessively at his game and taking care of himself, so what is his opinion for the best way to work on this are of the game?
“You’ve just got to ‘rep. ‘Rep. Shoot as many as you can,” said Antetokounmpo after the loss Sunday. “I think the hardest part is to get to the free throw line.”
That’s an interesting point – Antetokounmpo leads the NBA in scoring at 33.8 points per game. He’s also tops among the current scoring leaders with an average of 10.7 free throw attempts per game.
But there have been games already this season – Sacramento, the game at Toronto and the game at Indiana – where the Bucks have seen Antetokounmpo get hacked and not get the foul called against him, denying him more free throw opportunities. Clearly, its a focal point; the Bucks want other teams to pay for fouling him.
It also means they want to shoot better from the line. Rivers believes this area of the game is straightforward. The Bucks practice free throws. Everyone expects to make enough of them.
“You want me to tell them to make free throws? I don’t know what the anwser is. We practice them, we work on them.I don’t know what you want me to do,” said Rivers. “Other than, ‘let’s make free throws.'”
“You know, just shoot as many as you can,” said Antetokounmpo. “After shoot around, before games. After games. And eventually they are going to go in.”
It’s likely the numbers will improve for Milwaukee; the question is, by how much? It’s hard to work on something during season play by adding in all the extra time like Antetokounmpo does.
Last year, the Bucks were 28th in the league in free throw shooting at 75% but the year before that they were 19th at 77.4%.The Bucks had other, bigger problems against Houston, but Antetokounmpo’s missed free throws came at a tough time. First when Milwaukee trailed 115-113, when he missed two, and again when he missed one, trailing 117-114.The only challenge now is mental, and to forget the loss on Sunday that Milwaukee should have won. The Bucks were in the air mere hours after the loss, on their way to play at Dallas in a back-to-back.
“It’s why the NBA is great. Doesn’t matter if you win or lose, tomorrow you have another one, you have another chance to redeem yourself,” said Antetokounmpo. “But tomorrow is a must-win. We can not lose two in a row.”