NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT

December 7, 2023

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks

Semifinal Postgame

Pacers 128, Bucks 119

Q. How do you envision the impact of the In-Season Tournament inspired to the FA Cup and to many soccer cups and the overall global presence of the NBA?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Feels good. You know, it feels good. I think it gives meaning to the game. Makes the game more competitive. It's always good to play for another trophy during the season. Pretty much that's it. Obviously, now overseas they do it. I know the G League does it. It was kind of strange when I came around here, 10 years ago, that the NBA wasn't doing that. It was only the Championship. But I think it just brings a lot of meaning to the games, and if you play a game like this at 2:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m here, 4:00 p.m. in Milwaukee, 10:00 p.m. in Greece, people stay up and watch the game. It was fun. Fun experience. Happy that we were able to make Vegas in the first year it happened. Obviously, we didn't go to the Final game but at the end of the day, you know, you live, you learn. Hopefully you can get -- learn from this game and be better in the future.

Q. This year, so often late in games you've been really about in the clutch. Tonight, you had a couple turnovers. Late in the game, what did you see --

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Had a couple turnovers?

Q. No, the team, sorry, not you.

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: The team. We have to be more organized. We have to know what we are trying to get down the stretch. You know, at the end of the day, like down the stretch, it's about effort, man. It's about effort and attitude, you have to go out there and take it. I feel like the Indiana team, that's what they did. They crashed the board, got defensive rebounds. You know they got to their spots. They played great defense. You know, got deflections. Like at the end of the day, like nothing is going to be given to you in life. Nothing is going to be given to you in an NBA game, and we cannot just expect that to be, we run a play and because we run the play, we are going to score a bucket. Like you've got to execute. You've got to cut hard, screen harder, get open, drive the ball, you know, make something happen.

You know, we've done that in the past. Today I don't think we did it as well. But at the end of the day, like we have to be better down the stretch. Like we've got to know what we’re trying to accomplish down the stretch. I feel like sometimes we weren’t on the same page, and it cost us.

But yeah, we've just got to go back, watch the film and try to be better.

Q. Along those lines, they were able to get offensive rebounds in the second half. I think 11, scored 15 second-chance points. Was it a function of the zone and maybe losing sense of where they were, or what did you -- how did you see them be able to kind of take advantage of that in the second half?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Played harder than us. Simple as that. Obviously playing the zone, you're not guarding, you're just guarding like an area. Try to keep -- have a guy in front of you. And sometimes when the ball goes up, obviously if you try to find a body to get back, you know, to kind of crack a body but at the end of the day, I don't even think that was the case. I think they just played harder than us and we've just got to accept it.

How many offensive rebounds they had, 11?

Q. 11. 15 total.

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: That 23 points, second, whatever it's called, second-chance points, yeah, that's the game right there. That's the game right there, man. Played harder than us. They crashed the board. Defended better. They were better.

Q. When you talk about In-Season Tournament, like the excitement from the fans' perspective was really seeing you guys in a different light. Take us inside the locker room. What was some of the talk in reference to, from player to player and how you guys felt about this type of structure?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: I don't say much in the locker room. I just keep it to myself. Stay locked in. Focus on my routine. Take care of my body and prepare for the game.

Obviously, there's conversations going to the locker room and a lot of people is talking about winning. Some people talking about money. But for me, I just try to focus on the game. Getting in the right head space to go out there and help my team in the best way possible.

That's what I have done my whole career, that's what I continue to do, and yeah, so I don't pay attention so much in the conversation going on in the locker room.

Q. As well as Tyrese Haliburton played, what do you make of the fact that he can play a game like this and not turn the ball over at all?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: He's amazing.

Q. Does it hurt aggressiveness it if you're worried about turnovers? It doesn't seem to bother him.

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: He's amazing. He's played at a very high level and you just have to tip your hat to him. At the end of the day, he had like 15 assists, right. Fifteen assists, but not only that.

I believed my whole life that your point guard is your pace, you know, and with the pace that your point guard plays, that's the pace that the team plays, and he plays at an incredible place. He plays fast, quick when he needs to. When we went to zone, he kind of slowed down and all of his team is slowed down and got to their spots. You know, whenever he rebounds the ball, he always looks for outlets and puts -- gets his teammates involved early in the game or early in the offense. Obviously, he's a great shooter. A little bit unorthodox shot but it goes in, and he's a threat. And down the stretch, he makes great plays. He doesn't turn the ball over. You know you're going to get a good shot from him. His team is going to get a good shot. So, as I said, you've got to tip the hat. He's a great player. But to be able to have 25 points plus, 15 assists and not turning the ball over, which I had no idea about it, speaks a lot. Speaks volumes about the way he's playing this year.

Q. According to the season, looking at this team now compared to what you're accustomed to, based on what you've seen this season so far, could you highlight your biggest concerns about your team moving forward as this season progresses again compared to what you're accustomed to?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Yeah, I'll say, obviously, the talent level that we have is incredible. But we have to be more organized. We have to be more organized. I feel like sometimes we're not organized at all. We don't know what we try to get from our offense, or sometimes defensively we're not sprinting back. We don't -- we create a lot of -- shoot a lot of early threes. At the end of the day, you have to protect the ball. You have to know where the ball is. We had a lot of situations today that they got a lot of dunks, open threes, early threes. We have to be better. And the other thing is that obviously our chemistry, game-by-game, going to keep on getting closer. Again, because we have new players on the team, Malik and Dame, which we've played a lot of years in the previous years with the same, basically, core, and now it's different. We have to know what their weaknesses are, what their strengths are, where they want the ball, what spots on the floor they want the ball, and the biggest thing, I believe, is that we got to -- we've got to want it. You know, nobody is going to give you nothing.

Like sometimes I feel like we expect just because we have great players out there, that Tyrese Haliburton or Myles Turner or Aaron Nesmith, somebody is not just going to give us the game. Like no, we have to -- we have to be better. We have to go out there and take it. You know at the end of the day, I think we are great players, but if we don't go out there and compete, they are not going to respect us. They played their best against us.

Q. You brought up chemistry, the want-it factor, they have got to want it, but when you bring up organization, are you talking about you guys not being organized enough? You know, sometimes you don't know -- you say you guys don't know, you don't seem to be on the same page. Is that about you? Is that about the coaching? What is that about?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: No, even if it was about the organization and the coaches, I try to shoot straight.

But at the end of the day, I don't -- as much as I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, at the end of the day, the players play the game. We play the game, you know. Coaches can say whatever they want to say and put us in the position to be successful, and you hope that they do that for you.

But you've got to make the plays, you know, like you don't spring back on defense, it's not the coaches fault you don't sprint back. If you're not able to execute down the stretch and you turn the ball over and you throw it to your opponent hands, it's not the coaches' fault. You've just got to be man you have to take that.

We have to come together as a team. This is Game 22. We have 60 more games. We've got to keep on coming together as a team. We've got to keep on spending time together. We've got to keep watching film together. We have to keep on getting on the court together.

We haven't had the time to practice. We play every other day. It's hard. It's hard. I'm not going to lie, it's hard to practice in this league. It's not like playing overseas. Overseas, you play one game, two weeks a week, you have four days a week you can come back and work on your game plan. You know what you're going to do defensively, how you're going to guard teams but in the NBA, that's not the case. You practice while you're playing the game, but at the end of the day, in order for us to expedite our chemistry, we have to keep coming on together.

After this game, what we going to do about it? Are we going to go to our rooms and just whine and cry about it or are we going to break bread and talk about the game, you know, watch this game, comment on the game what we thought, you know, me and Dame, me and Khris, me and Brook, how can me and Brook get the rebounds, how can our bench be better.

At the end of the day, I felt like they are bench kicked our butts. It's simple. I saw the stat sheet. I usually don't look at the stat sheet but I look at the stat sheet, they do it way better than us. Everybody was 10-plus. They came in, changed the flow of the offense. They were aggressive. They were making plays. You know, our bench wasn't good tonight. We have to talk about it.

We have to address it. We have three days now until Monday that we play Chicago at home. We have to get on the court. We have to get in the film room. We have to talk as a team and hopefully we can expedite our chemistry. It's not about the coach. It's like we have to get better. It's on us now. We have the talent, we have the experience. It's on us. We know it's on us.

Q. You just mentioned how much energy Indiana played with tonight and you mentioned Haliburton. He did the Dame Time celebration and they were really excited to beat you guys. Do you sense that because you've been at the top of the East for so long that a team like Indiana is using you guys as a measuring stick and is coming for you guys?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Oh, for sure, not just Indiana. Everybody is coming for us. At the end of the day, if I saw Dame and Giannis and Brook and Khris on the other team, I'm coming for them, too, you know, like at the end of the day, you want to aim and kind of play your best against the best.

You know, at the end of the day, yeah, they played really well. Played really, really well. You've got to respect that. They have beat us twice this year. They beat Boston. They played incredible. They have incredible coach that has an incredible system. Play a lot of small ball. Play fast. They are a very, very good team and they have a very good player that he's like a machine that is not turning the ball over and makes good plays.