MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo went off on Wednesday night time, ending with 35 factors, 18 rebounds and 10 assists within the Milwaukee Bucks’ comfy 126-116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It could have been essentially the most irrelevant triple-double of his profession.
Submit-game, all anybody wished to learn about was his ideas on the choice to fireplace first-year head coach Adrian Griffin regardless of a 30-13 report that was good for second place within the Japanese Convention. And so Antetokounmpo sat and talked, answering each query despatched his manner in an prolonged media session that lasted practically 20 minutes.
Like most, he was not anticipating the daring transfer, which he mentioned “caught me without warning.” He is totally on board with the choice, although, and Jon Horst and Co. have his full confidence.
“On the finish of the day I belief the possession determination, I belief the entrance workplace,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “They’ve by no means carried out me fallacious previously. They’ve all the time created a terrific ambiance, a terrific tradition, a successful tradition they usually all the time did no matter was one of the best for the staff and for us to be ready to win. We simply gotta do the identical factor right here. We gotta belief that that is one of the best determination for me and the fellows. We gotta go along with it. It is belief.”
Whereas the Bucks’ report below Griffin was stellar, all was not proper. They had been typically out of kinds, particularly on the defensive finish the place they struggled to adapt to Griffin’s extra aggressive schemes. On the time of his firing, they ranked twenty first within the league on that facet of the ball, permitting 116.8 factors per 100 possessions.
Antetokounmpo had been essential of Griffin at a number of factors throughout his tenure. Most lately, throughout a prolonged rant following the staff’s loss to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 6, which was a part of a 1-4 skid, he mentioned “we have now to be coached higher” and questioned the staff’s defensive technique.
Nonetheless, he was adamant that he had nothing to do with the choice.
“I refuse to fall right into a bubble of ‘oh, that is correct, or this isn’t correct,'” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “All the time there’s gonna be one thing on the market about me, concerning the staff. ‘Oh, he did not have a superb relationship with Griff.’ False. I like the man. I invited him to my marriage ceremony. I talked with him. I used to be coached by him and we did very, very nicely.
“At instances, they make it appear to be it is gamers making the choices like this man acquired traded as a result of he wished him and — no. I’ve a job. My job is to be one of the best model that I might be and attempt to lead this staff to win video games. That is why I receives a commission. I do not receives a commission to vary individuals’s lives and make individuals uncomfortable. I receives a commission to defend, block pictures, and I attempt to persist with that as a lot as I can. I do not like that facet of it. There’s people who receives a commission some huge cash to make these choices, and people choices are exhausting. I gotta respect Jon as a result of it is exhausting. It is not straightforward. However personally, I do not wish to be concerned in that. I do not like that.”
Horst, throughout his pre-game press convention, likewise said that the gamers weren’t concerned within the determination. Whereas that could be correct on a literal foundation, it is exhausting to consider that Antetokounmpo’s repeated public criticisms did not weight into the transfer.
