By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Overcoming booing, especially focused on longtime Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner, the Milwaukee Bucks prevailed, 117-115, in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Monday.
Playing through left knee patellar tendinopathy, Giannis Antetokounmpo netted 33 points, including a fadeaway game-winner at the buzzer.
“I just wanted to make sure I take the last shot,” he mentioned in a postgame media session, “A possession or two before that, I shot a shot and I was short. The only thing I was thinking about was just start your dribble at like six seconds, shoot it at like two or one second, and just shoot it long, which I did and it went in.”
“It’s instincts,” he continued, painting the picture of the buildup to the game-winner, “The moment I was spinning, I felt his guy coming and I saw Myles [Turner] for like a split second underneath the basket, but I knew that it was one second and I had to shoot the ball.”
“You can live if you miss, but you cannot live if you don’t shoot it,” added the Freak, after pushing the Bucks to 5-2 in the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season.
The 30-year-old Greek point forward grabbed 13 rebounds in a double-double, alongside five assists and two steals in 31:44. However, his brothers Thanasis and Alex remained on the bench and out of the lineup, respectively.
Nurkic also hits a game-winner
With a putback at 0.6 seconds on the clock, Bosnian Jusuf Nurkic handed the Utah Jazz a 105-103 victory versus the Boston Celtics, ending up with an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double in TD Garden.
More European starters for head coach Will Hardy went from Finnish Lauri Markkanen’s 20 points to Ukrainian Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk chipping in nine points.
For the C’s, Portuguese Neemias Queta had nine points, and Bosnian Luka Garza and Spanish Hugo Gonzalez produced two points each, but British Amari Williams and Ukrainian Max Shulga sat out.