OKC Thunder: 3 takeaways from Bucks revenge game
On Valentine’s Day, the OKC Thunder played shorthanded without their star and rose up to shock the Milwaukee Bucks via a 114-109 winning effort.
Not quite a week later the circumstances were fraught with drama as the team who held the top record in each of the past two seasons and feature the back-to-back MVP were mired in their worst losing streak since the 2016-17 season.
Factor in the Thunder (and the Bucks) were playing the second games of a back-to-back set and the stage was set for what resulted in a defensive battle that witnessed the Thunder losing their sixth game in seven outings and third in a row.
As Intentions outlined in the pregame analysis this was going to be a tough test with Giannis Antetokounmpo motivated to stop the bleeding. With five losses in a row, the Greek Freak said he wasn’t worried but the elbow he threw at the game end to OG Anunoby’s chin in the second loss in a row to the Raptors told a different story.
In that play, Antetokounmpo stopped, looked at the Toronto forward, and then delivered the elbow clearly frustrated by the intensive defensive effort he had dealt with for two straight games. That action arguably spoke more to the young star’s mindset entering this match as he clearly was going to do anything and everything possible to collect the win.
The game was close through the first half but a strong third quarter allowed the Bucks to pull ahead by 22 points and hang on for the win.
It was one of those matches that analysts cite as ‘winning ugly’ since neither team shot the ball well especially from deep. Even when Milwaukee pulled ahead they never really looked like their offense was humming.
With that let’s examine the three takeaways.
OKC Thunder takeaway No. 1) Antetokounmpo 2-time MVP for a reason!
The old saying it’s hard to keep a good man down might apply here as Giannis Antetokounmpo was clearly a man on a mission. On a night when neither team had their legs and both failed to reach 100 points, his contributions were major factors in the loss for the Thunder.
Antetokounmpo produced almost 30 percent of the Bucks offense with 29 points but his 19 rebounds could be pointed to as the key to why Milwaukee won.
The reigning MVP was active defensively with three blocks and a steal but factored frequently in causing deflections or forcing the Thunder to alter their offensive decisions.
The strength of GA was witnessed over and over as he pulled boards away from the Thunder or drove like a freight train to the basket. With his star status, those elbows get away with a lot but the Thunder never backed down even with the calls going GA’s way.
He’s a two-time MVP for a reason and while this was not a pretty game overall he showed how one player can impact the outcome of the game.
One side note – – The NBA rule for players is they must shoot free throws within 10 seconds of being handed the ball by the ref. I timed Antetokounmpo through his last two games and again tonight and he takes 12 seconds (sometimes up to 15) to shoot which is illegal.
I’d bet good money an opponent is going to demand the refs call him for this infraction at some stage in the postseason. I wondered why more teams aren’t complaining already but why waste that strategy in the regular season when it can be utilized with bigger stakes in the playoffs? The goal will be to throw off his specific routine and get in his head. And this from a 64.3 percent free-throw shooter!