Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo breaks silence after 54-point night goes to waste

Giannis Antetokounmpo recognized that there were plenty of lessons for the Bucks to learn in their loss to the Pacers.

Raring to go after an inexplicable ejection ended his night early against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated the Indiana Pacers in the paint on Thursday night. Without the services of Damian Lillard, who's out due to a precautionary measure due to it being the second night of a back-to-back, Antetokounmpo seized controls of the Bucks offense en route to his best game of the season, dropping 54 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists.

However, despite Antetokounmpo's offensive outburst, the Bucks couldn't seal the deal in the dying embers of the fourth quarter. They ended up taking a 126-124 loss to the Pacers, which is heartbreaking given how Milwaukee held the lead for the first 10 minutes and 31 seconds of the fourth period. But Indiana came rallying back, taking a lead they would not relinquish via a Tyrese Haliburton three-ball.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, being the team player that he is, wrote on his official Twitter (X) account after the game that he doesn't care about how many points he put up on the board, especially when it resulted in a Bucks loss. Nevertheless, the Greek Freak also took a glass half-full approach, recognizing the fact that there were plenty of lessons for them to glean from their defeat at the hands of the Pacers.

“54. 45. 5. It doesn’t matter. A lot of good things we can learn from today to get better 💪🏾💪🏾,” Antetokounmpo wrote.

Of course, the calculus of the game would have been vastly different had Damian Lillard been available for the Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo, due to his shortcomings in the perimeter shot-creation department, needs a high-level ballhandler to help him during crunch-time, so he sorely missed Lillard during their loss to the Pacers. For years, Khris Middleton was the guy for them in the clutch, but Middleton is still limited due to his minutes restriction.

For now, all the Bucks can do is go back to the drawing board and figure out how to reinforce a leaky defense that allowed the Pacers to nail 20 triples on the night. They'll be looking to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they take on the Orlando Magic on the road.