NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT

December 6, 2023

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks

Semifinal Practice Day

Q. Having won an NBA title, gotten a ring, watched the banner go up, if you win tomorrow and win again Saturday, would you want to see an in-season banner hanging in Milwaukee?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Sure. I don't know. This is my first time being in a tournament like this. I don't know what takes place if you win the whole thing. I saw a trophy out there, but I don't know if this counts on your resume, if I get a banner, if you get a ring. I heard you get some money if you win.

But as I told you guys yesterday, before I go back to Milwaukee, I'll probably spend it in the casino downstairs in our hotel, play it on 34 red. But yeah, if we beat Indiana, then we beat the next team, it would be great to see another banner, and it's going to be crazy because whoever wins this whole thing is going to have one upped Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe, Shaq. I guess I'm better than them. [Laughter].

But hey, if we get -- first of all, we've got to win Indiana, very good team, young team, plays fast. But if we win the whole thing, it would be great to maybe have a banner, too. Who knows, I don't care.

Q. Is it a little strange for people to be singing happy birthday to you on a basketball court in Las Vegas in the middle of the NBA season? What does that feel like?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: No, it's weird. It feels weird being in Vegas during the NBA season. But yeah, I'll say it's weird. This whole thing is weird.

But at the end of the day, it's a great experience. It's something that I've never gone through before. So, I'm trying to soak it in as much as I can, enjoy the moment as much as I can, enjoy the game. Whatever the outcome is, I know that I'll leave this place with a great experience. I had my birthday in Vegas. That's what I'm going to tell my kids one day. My 29th birthday was in Las Vegas. What were you doing out there, dad? Were you gambling and being in the gentlemen's club? No, no, I was playing a basketball game. Basketball game? What?

But yeah, I'm just trying to soak in all this experience, enjoy it as much as possible.

Q. Now that you've experienced the first few weeks of this tournament with the group stage and elimination the other night, what things would you like to see tweaked or improved upon for this when it comes back next year or what things do you think should be done a little different?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Nothing. I enjoy the process. It felt like an NBA game. I felt like the hype was maybe around the game a little bit different. But for me, it felt like just an NBA game.

Okay, with the other things they did, they changed the courts and some jerseys, I think the NBA did a great job just building hype around it and kind of making it different from a regular-season game because in the old days if you watch the game you can tell it's not just a regular season game, it's a play-in, In-Season Tournament game, whatever it's called.

I think it's great. I think it just brings a little bit more attention to the game of basketball, and some of those games count.

If we had lost the game yesterday, we wouldn't be in this position we are today, but if it was just a regular-season game, who would have cared. I just think it brings more attention to our game.

I don't think there's anything to tweak. Yeah, I don't think there's anything else. I think it's great so far.

Q. We didn't get a chance to talk to you last night. Did you feel like the performance you had last night was as good as you've been offensively all season, and is that sort of the blueprint for what you guys can be when you're at your best?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: I think we scored, what, 140 points? I don't remember if we scored 140 points again this season, but this was the first game that we actually beat a team by 20, and we were up in the fourth quarter and guys were able to go in and play, our young guys, which that's a good feeling. I feel like a lot of games we've played this year have been close games.

But at the end of the day, I think it starts from our defense. I don't want to say what we do. Obviously score 120 points, too, but it starts with our defense. Once we start eliminating some things that we want to eliminate, our offense becomes a lot easier.

What else? But I didn't think we had the potential to score 140 points, as you guys saw last night, but at the end of the day you cannot expect that you're going to score 140 points a game. You guys have been around for a long time. You know that. We've got to start from our defense. We've got to be better defensively, try to eliminate whatever we're trying to eliminate. I don't want to put our game plan out there. On days when we score 140 points, the games are going to be easier. If we score 110 points, hopefully we have a chance to win.

At the end of the day, everybody is locked in and we are making shots and the ball is moving and we are able to get in the paint and also get open shots, not only get open shots, make open shots, we are a very, very dangerous team, same as Indiana. Indiana plays extremely fast, move the ball, try to play as many open shots as possible as they can and any given night they can score 120, 140. One night they can score 80. They're a dangerous team. Obviously, they have a great coach, too.

But at the end of the day, with the game plan that we have moving forward, I think it gives us a chance to put ourselves in a position to win games easier.

Q. I want to ask you what wish did you make minutes ago with the cake, and if you remember the first birthday gift that you ever received?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: The best birthday gift I ever received, I think when you say the wish, the wishes come true, so I cannot tell you the wish.

But when the wish come true, I'll tell you. When I see you again, I'll tell you if it came true or not.

What's the best birthday I've had? I don't know. Maybe last year. Last year I had all my family -- my brother was on a two-way with the Chicago Bulls, my other brother was with Oshkosh, so all of my brothers except my older one were together in Milwaukee, and I had a night that I could spend with them. So probably that because usually on my birthday everybody is all over the place. Kostas a couple years ago was in LA, Alex Toronto, then he was in Spain, then Kostas went to France. We were just all over the place. Last year was the first time that we were able to spend some time together as a family, so probably last year.

Q. How does your left ankle feel?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: It feels good. It feels good. Obviously, a little bit sore today. But it is what it is. You get some treatment, you sleep a little bit, ice it, elevate it. Hopefully it feels better in the morning.

Q. You were talking about the offense and what you guys are doing defensively. With your defense a little bit lower in the rankings you've played more of these high-scoring games. How has that been for you to kind of go through? That's not something that you guys have done in the past.

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Yeah, even like yesterday we won by 20, but they scored 120 points. That's not who we are. We are able to keep teams under 100 in the last previous years. We've got to get better. Right now, I think we're not even top 20 in defense, and that's not who we are. In order to be really good, you have to be top 10 offense, top 10 defense history shows. So we've got to be better.

But I think we are better defensively now even though they scored 120 than we were two, three, four, five weeks ago. If we make those improvements and we keep on believing in the game plan that we've built to now, we're going to be better, I believe. If we are not, we are not. What can I say? We have to get the ball to Dame for him to score 70 again. We have that option, too.

But at the end of the day, I don't think we can just rely on like scoring 122 points to beat a team that scores 120. We've got to keep teams under 100, and it's very hard to do in the NBA because everybody is very talented. But we've got to be able to do that.

Q. This tournament brings more attention to your games compared to the regular season. What about your side as a team? Would you say that your games this season are more competitive, that the level of competition is higher? Would you compare it to playoff games, like first round, or is it too much?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: No, I'll say the urgency in those games is definitely higher than just a regular-season game. If I compare it to a playoff game, I don't know. But for sure there's meaning behind the game now.

So, you'll probably see teams playing harder.

But again, not for my team. My team plays hard every single night. But yeah, for sure there's more urgency behind the games.

Q. Can this accelerate some team building? You had mentioned in the championship year Jrue was new, Bobby was new and it took a while for you to come together. I'm asking you to project a little bit, but being together not at home for a few days, high-stakes games, can that be a good thing? There's not really a comp for that.

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Yeah, no, win or lose, it's going to be a good thing. Win or lose. You want to play as many games like this as you can. You know that they're high stakes, whatever, that there's meaning behind it.

You prepare to win. Just not to prepare just to prepare. Obviously, we say we prepare to win, but -- I'm not going to say our life is depending on it, but we want to win. We want to win.

Obviously, there's a lot of things that takes place in order for you to win the game, but win or lose, it's going to be good for our team. Win or lose, it's going to be very, very good for our team. We're going to learn because we want to be in a moment like this again hopefully. Might be Playoffs, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4. There's going to be times that we have to prepare for a game which if we get knocked out, we go back home. If we lose the game, our season ends.

You only get better from these games, and I think for sure it's going to accelerate our chemistry.

But again, it's 22 games into the season, man. It's very, very early. It's very, very early.

I really believe in the group that we have, and I believe as long as we stay on the same page, as long as everybody do what they have to do -- not more, just be good, do your role, nothing more, and be able to sacrifice, sometimes take a step backwards in order for you to take 10 steps forward, we are going to be good. Yeah, we have a chance.

Now, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. We'll come back next year and try it again. But again, for sure it accelerates our chemistry, but we have a lot of games moving forward.