By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After being officially named as the 2020 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted to give the necessary recognition to his teammates’ efforts before talking about anything else.
“This award wouldn’t be possible without my teammates,” Giannis said in his opening statement during his DPOY press conference. “We have the no. 1 defensive team in the NBA. We always go out there and compete together. We trust one another on the court. Defense is built on trust and effort as I said earlier. That’s what me and my teammates do every day, every night we step on the floor.”
Later, Giannis went on to specifically talk about how some of his teammates helped the Bucks become the top defensive team in the league. “Brook just makes the job easier for everybody. He’s always behind us. Bled (Eric Bledsoe) picks up everybody, makes every guard’s night a tough night. We can talk about Wesley Matthews guarding the best player of the other team every single night. We can talk about everybody. A mix of all that creates a great defensive team.”
“I’m gonna send him [Brook Lopez] half of the trophy because he definitely deserves it as much as I do,” Giannis later said. “Brook’s my guy.”
Giannis learned that he won DPOY for the first time in his career right after the Game 4 win over the Orlando Magic.
“Coach Bud told me after Game 4,” Giannis said. “We were in the locker room, it was just the players and the coaches. Usually, when the coach wants to talk to us after a game, somebody messed up, somebody did something, right? So, in my head I’m OK. I’m looking around like who did something because I know I didn’t do nothing. And the coach was so excited, so happy. He was extremely happy. That was the first time I heard about it.”