The 2025-26 season has long been lost for the Milwaukee Bucks, but Giannis Antetokounmpo is not just giving up without a fight. Despite all the trade rumors involving him, he's proven to be as committed of a star as there can be for a floundering Bucks franchise, but on Thursday, they fell to 27-38 on the season — six games back of the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference — after taking a 112-105 loss to the Miami Heat.
There was one pivotal moment in the fourth that swung the game out of the Bucks' reach. With less than a minute to go, Antetokounmpo decided to go for a home run play and pull up for a three-point attempt, which he missed. On the other end, the Heat found the hot hand in Pelle Larsson, who swished a triple to extend the Heat's lead to six with less than 30 seconds left in the ballgame.
After the game, the Bucks star admitted to being frustrated with himself, wishing that he took more threes earlier in the game to get himself in better rhythm for when the time came for him to make a game-tying triple.
“I'm kind of upset with myself because I didn't shoot – like if I had shot maybe one or two early in the first half when I was wide open and I just kept on passing it to get the better shot for my teammates and I wasn't trusting myself,” Antetokounmpo said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“Maybe, if I had shot those two, maybe I'd feel a little bit better and maybe that shot would have gone in.”
Nonetheless, Antetokounmpo felt that he made the right play, and he was never going to regret being aggressive in hunting his shot.
“Most of the time I do the right thing, take good shots, so…I just did not make it,” Antetokounmpo added. “But again, I'm being aggressive. I don't regret being aggressive. I regret when I'm passive…the ball didn't go in.”
