Giannis Antetokounmpo showed why he's the league's reigning Most Valuable Player in a season opener against the Houston Rockets, all set for bragging rights against runner-up James Harden. Yet the Milwaukee Bucks star ensured to say that defending his MVP award is not part of his thought process:

“I really don’t (care about defending his MVP award),” he told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “We’ve got 81 more games to go. And as I said last year, if we take care of our business, everything will take care of itself.”

Antetokounmpo posted a 30-point triple-double, brimming in contrast to a struggling Harden, who made only 2-of-13 from the floor and paraded to the foul line for a perfect 14-of-14 to finish with 19 points.

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The Greek Freak was efficient, assertive, and most importantly constant in putting the pressure on the Houston Rockets. The Bucks outscored the Rockets by 15 in the final quarter, earning them a 117-11 win to start their season.

While this could have been the perfect opportunity for Antetokounmpo to silence naysayers who insisted Harden was deserving of the award, the 25-year-old isn't paying attention to the hoopla and instead zoning into the lone award missing from his collection: the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Antetokounmpo was en route to a potential NBA Finals bid until his Bucks had the Eastern Conference Finals flipped on them, losing four straight games and getting eliminated from contention by the Toronto Raptors. All of The Greek Freak's focus will rest on righting that wrong.