After Giannis Antetokounmpo was called for a carrying violation with Milwaukee trailing the Celtics by 14 in the third quarter,  he looked to the sideline and saw Bobby Portis getting ready to check into the game. Bucks first-year head coach Adrian Griffin was ready to sub Giannis out, and Giannis wasn't having it. And with the competitive juices flowing, Giannis and Griffin got into a brief but heated spat on the sideline after Portis entered the game.

After the game, which the Bucks lost 119-116 in a battle between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, Adrian Griffin was asked about the verbal altercation with Giannis, and predictably, Griffin downplayed the incident.

“He wanted to stay in, I wanted to give him a breather. That's all it was,” Griffin told reporters after the game, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “And then I told him to stay at the table for one possession, and he got right back out there.”

Now that may be true, but Giannis' frustration was both very noticeable and completely understandable in the moment. It wasn't a great night for the two-time MVP, in fact, it was arguably his most disappointing game of the young season. Antetokounmpo finished the game with just 21 points on 7-20 shooting from the field, his worst shooting game of the 2023-24 campaign.

It was a game that the Celtics led wire-to-wire, building their lead to 21 points at one point before the Bucks came storming back in the 4th quarter thanks to double-digit scoring quarters from both Brook Lopez and Damian Lillard, who finished with 28 and 27 points respectively. Former Buck and current Celtic Jrue Holiday had a quiet game in his first meeting with his former team, finishing with just 5 points and 8 rebounds.

The Bucks will have to wait nearly two months before they get their chance to avenge this loss to the Celtics. Milwaukee will play host to Boston on January 11th, in a game that will likely be hyped as one of the biggest games of the regular season, just as this one was.