Knicks know Giannis Antetokounmpo is Bucks' lone star and monster to contain
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks dribbles the ball against Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks on Tuesday. Credit: Getty Images
MILWAUKEE — Mike Brown was discussing the challenge that Giannis Antetokounmpo poses on the court, but he maybe inadvertently provided the only quote necessary for any Knicks fans watching Tuesday night's game with one eye on their own team and one eye on Antetokounmpo for any hint that he might want to head to New York City.
“He’s a monster,” Brown said before the game. “He just causes everybody to pay attention to him all the time.”
And that is absolutely true, especially after a story surfaced in the offseason that Antetokounmpo, if he ever was to leave the only franchise he’s ever played for, the Milwaukee Bucks, he would only have one team on his radar — the Knicks.
Since then he and the team have tried to silence that talk and before the game Doc Rivers, as open and honest with the media as any coach, wanted no part of the talk.
When a question was posed about the trade talk drama, he quickly said, “No, I think you guys had a lot of drama. We had none. That’s actual factual.”
Asked to clarify that and the feeling that the Bucks did not have any drama, he said, “I’ve already said that. I’m not going to keep repeating it. You want me to say it again for you? I’ve said it 100 times. And we mean that.”
Maybe, and maybe time will tell. Maybe the Knicks will be all that they believe that they can be and their title chase won’t necessitate another major move after the franchise swung deals for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges in the summer of 2024 and then swapped coaches in this most recent offseason.
Or perhaps Antetokounmpo will decide that he wants his entire career to be spent on the banks of Lake Michigan, completing his career with the team that he helped to a title already. Perhaps he'll stay where he has been the center of attention for a franchise that has rebuilt downtown around a new arena.
The task for the Knicks though on Tuesday was showing what they have become and containing Antetokounmpo on the court.
“I think they still got a lot of talent around him,” Bridges said. “Obviously, Giannis, he’s the head of the snake but I think I like their additions and guys that have been there for some years. They’re still a really good team and they look good.
“Giannis [has the] ability to get to the rim and the free throw line, so just be aggressive and help the guy on ball, stuff we’ve been preaching the whole season. But obviously Giannis is a different breed. But yeah just helping one another and being solid, not putting guys on the line and let the defense get set and letting guys get rhythm.”
Bridges actually was nearly in as many rumors as Antetokounmpo, his contract extension dragging on through the summer and there was some thought that it was because the Knicks didn’t want to commit until they knew what would become of the Antetokounmpo talks.
“Yeah I don’t know. Nothing we can do,” he said. “Ain’t nothing we can do to control about it . . . Just do whatever I was doing.”
Asked if he made a call during the rumors to find out if it was true, he said, “Nothing. Just chilling. Just keep doing what I was doing and go about my day.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks were without three members of their rotation — Mitchell Robinson missing his fourth straight game to start the season with what the team is calling left ankle work load management, Deuce McBride missing his second straight for personal reasons, and Guerschon Yabusele sidelined with a sprained left knee . . . Brown explained his handing out a defensive player of the game award to one of his players and providing them with a hard hat, a construction vest and a Timberland boot for a photo with the team. “Yeah, it’s something we’ve done in the past. Basketball at the end of the day, you want to have fun. You want everybody to enjoy coming to work. And so we try to find different ways to do that, and that’s one of the ways.” But the boot wasn’t his idea. “I wish I could take credit for that. I want to say it’s (Senior Director of Media Relations Derek Lapinski’s) idea. It was his idea on the [Timberlands] . . . And obviously we just thought that the hard hat, the vest and the Timbs. You think about New York, that’s what New York is."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
