Giannis woke up in the 2nd half and cleaned up the second half of the nuggets with 30

The Nuggets entered Milwaukee without 4/5 of their five starters (Jokic, Murray, Porter, Caldwell-Pope). But partly the passion of their players, partly the fact that the Bucks underestimated them, kept Denver in the game for 46 minutes before the Bucks finally managed to claim the win.

Giannis Antetokounmpo found himself on a mediocre night and needed some time to adjust. Despite his poor start, he wasn’t discouraged and eventually found a rhythm through the shooting line to lead Milwaukee to victory with 33 points and 14 rebounds but along with 9 penalties.

Jrue Holiday with 20 points and Pat Connaughton with 19 points on 5-of-6 three-pointers set the Stags’ pace, while Khris Middleton had 10 points in 15 minutes for a Milwaukee team that now has a 31-17 record has. (19-5 home, 12-12 away).

For the Nuggets, who remain at the top of the West with a 34-15 record (22-4 home, 12-11 a), Aaron Gordon had 26 points and Bones Hyland had 15 points.

The Bucks’ next opponents are the Pacers in the early hours of Saturday morning (January 28, 2:00 a.m. Greek time) in Indiana.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s account

Giannis started the game sluggishly with three fouls, an aerial ball and an offensive foul (also charged as a foul) in 4 minutes before hitting his first basket. This was followed by 5 points in a row and another error for the “Greek Freak”, who apparently found pressing situations and ended the first period with 7 points and 5 errors.

The second half started even worse for Giannis, who was hit with two fouls (one of them offensive) within a minute, equaled three personally and was clearly out of rhythm. Two assists and a basket followed, and the Bucks star went into the dressing room with 9 points and 6 turnovers at halftime.

The third period began with Giannis making two more unforced errors. Gradually, however, the “Greek Freak” found his footing and scored 20 points at the end of the third period in a row. It proved to be just what he needed to find a rhythm and he kept his foot down in the fourth third and scored another 30, albeit marred by his 9 fouls.

33 points

9/15 two points

15/22 shots

14 setbacks

4 assists

3 steals

9 mistakes

4 fouls

+10 to +/-

at 30:48

The race

The Nuggets wanted to get in the game early, but the Bucks made sure they didn’t do so early — albeit a little… slowly — by running away with a 14-7 lead. But Denver responded with a 9-0 run to make it 14:16 before Giannis made it 17:16 with a basket and a foul. But that Bucks neglect continued, which the Nuggets capitalized on, going 19-23 before finally ending the first 12 minutes by a point (26-27) with Milwaukee already having 9 errors.

With Giannis on the bench early in the second period, Milwaukee initially escaped 32-27, but Denver quickly responded with a 34-35 as the “Greek Freak” returned to court. The return of Giannis didn’t change much, however, as Denver managed to go on 38-41 and 45-50 thanks to Hyland’s star. At this point, Milwaukee responded with an 8-0 run to take a 53-50 lead, eventually ending the first half 58-53.

The scene was the same at the start of the third period, the Bucks making mistake after mistake and the Nuggets staying in the game, with the score being 63-62 at 30 minutes. Giannis and Middleton kept searching, and with them did the Bucks, who nonetheless escaped Antetokounmpo just before the end of the third period at 81-70 with 7 straight points before Green hit a buzzer-beater from the middle in the finals for 81- 73

By the fourth period, the “Greek Freak” was back in attack mode and Connaughton was poised to execute from the perimeter. As a result, the Bucks got away 87-73, with Giannis constantly looking for shots, with the Nuggets often fouling him with 2 and 3 players to stop him. Despite Giannis’ outburst, Denver managed to stay in the game, with the score going 94-89 with 4 minutes remaining in the final and 99-92 a little later. However, another outburst from Giannis was enough for Milwaukee to clean up the game, albeit slightly, and celebrate another positive result.

THE DODECALPTA: 26-27, 58-53, 81-73, 107-99

MILWAUKEE BUCKS (Mike Budenholzer): Antetokounmpo 33 (9/15 2-pointers, 15/22 shots, 14 rebounds, 9 turnovers), Lopez 5 (2/11 shooting), Holiday 20 (9/20 shooting, 2 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 5 turnovers), Connaughton 19 (5/6 threes, 12 rebounds), Allen 7 (2/6 threes, 5 rebounds), Middleton 10 (2), Nowora 5, Carter, Matthews 3 (1), English 5 ( 1)

Denver nuggets (Mike Malone): Gordon 26 (3 3-pointers, 13 rebounds), Nagy 6 (1/5 3-pointers), M. Brown 12 (5/14 shooting, 1 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, 6 turnovers), Chanchar 9 (1), K. Brown 8 (2), Green 11 (4/14 shooting, 2/9 three-pointers), Jordan 2, Smith 10, Hyland 15 (5/14 shooting, 1/5 three-pointers ). ), reed

Milwaukee Bucks team stats: 24/48 2-pointers, 13/30 3-pointers, 20/28 shots, 50 rebounds, 16 assists, 11 steals, 6 blocks, 22 fouls

Denver Nuggets team stats: 27/62 2-pointers, 11/34 3-pointers, 12/16 shots, 50 rebounds, 21 assists, 9 steals, 5 blocks, 19 turnovers