The Charlotte Hornets held Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo to a season-low 22 points. He also only attempted one free throw the entire game, which is also a season-low.
The Hornets had a game plan, and they stuck to it. Limiting one of the best finishers in the game to too many paint touches or forcing him to take those foul line pull-up jumpers. Including the one Antetokounmpo attempted to win the game, which he missed to give the Hornets the 115-114 victory.
Miles Bridges felt like that was the best shot to force at the end of the game
Miles Bridges kept it real when it came down to Antetokounmpo’s final jumper.
“I wouldn’t say we wanted Giannis to shoot that, but we wanted Giannis to shoot that. We didn’t want him going to the rim, that’s what he does best. So he shot it, we got the board, and we got the win.”
There isn’t a way to shut down players of that caliber, so trying to force them into shots or situations that aren’t as ideal as their first option is going to always be the best course of action. Antetokounmpo could have very well drained that shot and it would not have come as a surprise to anyone if he did. Not even Bridges, who echoed these sentiments when asked if he was surprised he took that shot.
“Nah, he’s one of the greatest players to play this game. Any player is gonna shoot that shot, so I wasn’t really surprised.”
Josh Green praises Grant Williams for his defense on Bucks’ star
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s primary defender was Grant Williams, who did a solid job considering the outcome was a Hornets win. Josh Green gave Williams his props for his efforts on one of the best players in the world.
“I think Grant really took this challenge head-on in guarding one of the greatest players in the game. Grant did a great job and I think guys really bought into the assignment in having Grant’s back. It was great individual defense by Grant and our goal was to be able to help him. It was real cool to see the team take on the challenge.”
Team defense was able to seal the deal at the end, but Williams was able to force Antetokounmpo into tougher shots than usual. Granted, he still was 50% from the field, but he did just enough to ensure Charlotte’s win.
Related Charlotte Hornets NewsArticle continues below
Charles Lee cosigns on Grant Williams’ efforts
Hornets head coach Charles Lee took time to praise his starting center’s efforts as well in their win.
“I thought on that last play, Grant (Williams), who all game was the primary defender on Antetokounmpo, did a really good job,” Lee said. “He kept him in front, understood his tendencies. I thought all the guys around him understood how to kind of fake and fade and make it seem like there was a crowd there, make it seem like we were going to come help. He settled for a jumper and I thought we had a great contest, and we finished it with a deflection out of bounds.”
It’s not every day teams could hold Giannis Antetokounmpo to under 30 points. Through 13 games that’s only happened four times. Charlotte deployed the right defensive schemes to slow down one of the all-time greats. Now, they have to do it again against a great Cleveland Cavaliers team in the second half of a back-to-back.
Source link