By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Giannis Antetokounmpo used several examples out of his family and how he grew up, talking about the father of Tyrese Haliburton, John, using offensive words to celebrate a series-clinching win of the Indiana Pacers over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Freak and the Bucks were eliminated from the 2025 NBA Playoffs presented by Google on Tuesday.
“I believe in being humble in victory. That’s the way I am. There can be a lot of people out there. ‘No, when you win the game, you’ve got to talk. ’ It’s a green light for you to be disrespectful toward somebody else. I disagree,” explained the 30-year-old Greek superstar in a postgame press conference.
“I’ve won the championship. They haven’t. And that doesn’t say anything. I’m not trying to minimize their effort. But I remember when I won, my mom, who never missed the games from February, was scared to cross. She was like, “Am I allowed to come and hug my son?’ Now, my brother does media this year. He wants to come back and play. Except Thanasis, you never see my family sitting in courtside seats. This is not something that we do. We don’t,” Giannis referred to the 2021 NBA championship with the Bucks and his brother Thanasis sitting out the 2024-25 season due to injury, “I try to keep my family away from the game.”
“Losing the game, emotions run high,” he went into the incident, “Having a fan – at the moment I thought was a fan, but then I realized it was Tyrese’s dad. I love Tyrese. I think he’s a great competitor – coming on the floor and showing me his son’s towel in my face, ‘This is what we do. ‘This is what we f… do. I feel like that is very, very disrespectful.”
😳 Giannis and Tyrese Haliburton’s dad were getting heated after the Bucks-Pacers game!
pic.twitter.com/eYXP0wD73U— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) April 30, 2025
Giannis also talked about how his late father had a different approach.
“My dad used to come into the family room and was the most respectful person ever,” he said, “When you come from nothing and you’ve worked your whole life to sell stuff on the street. Your whole life, you’ll be scared of the police of deporting you, and sending you back to your country. You have to protect your kids at all costs. You create this mentality of being humble your whole life. To not kind of disrespect anybody, not make the tension or the emotions high. So, nobody can snitch and say something bad about you.”
“That’s how I grew up. That’s what I had around,” he continued, using various examples from his experience with his father, “Maybe if my son plays basketball, I might be on the court. Twenty years later, you can play this interview and say, ‘Giannis, you’re contradicting yourself. ’ We’ll see in 20 years. I’m talking about right now.”
“Coming to me and disrespecting me, and cursing at me. I think it’s totally unacceptable,” he stressed.
“I don’t think that my pops was in the right at all there,” admitted Haliburton.
Both players also confirmed intentions to move on from the incident.
“I sincerely apologize to Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Pacers organization for my actions following tonight’s game,” the father of Halibuton wrote in a post on X, “This was not a good reflection on our sport or my son and I will not make that mistake again.”