Giannis Antetokounmpo Gives Brutally Honest Answer Following Heat-Bucks Game 5
Giannis Antetokounmpo battled through injury and did everything he could to try and get the Milwaukee Bucks a victory in Game 5 against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, but he was unable to do so.
The Heat came back from a 16-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to force overtime in Game 5, ultimately going on to defeat the Bucks 128-126 in overtime and thus ending Milwaukee's season a lot earlier than many anticipated.
Milwaukee had been picked by many to not only win the 2023 NBA Finals, but at least make it out of the Eastern Conference. They will not be doing either of those things this season, as the NBA's top team during the regular season became just the sixth 1-seed to lose to an 8-seed in the opening round of the playoffs, as they fell 4-1 in this season's series against the Heat.
After the game, Antetokounmpo was asked in his postgame media availability if he viewed this season as a failure for the Bucks and the two-time MVP gave a very insightful and detailed response to this question.
"Oh my god. You asked me the same question last year Eric," Giannis said addressing The Athletic's Eric Nehm. "Do you get a promotion every year? No, so every year you work is a failure, yes or no? No. Every year you work, you work towards a goal. Whether it is to get a promotion, to take care of your family, to be able to provide a house for them or take care of your parents, you work towards a goal.
"It's not a failure, it's steps to success... There are always steps to it. You know, Michael Jordan played 15 years and won six championships. The other nine years were a failure? That's what you are telling me."
Finishing 58-24 on the season, the Bucks owned the league's best record and owned home-court advantage throughout the postseason.
Unfortunately for them, this means nothing now, as their streak of winning at least one playoff series for four straight seasons has come to an end.
"There is no failure in sports," Giannis went on to elaborate. "There are good days, bad days, some days you are able to be successful, some days you're not. Some days it's your turn, some days it's not your turn and that's what sports about. You don't always win, some others going to win. This year, someone else going to win. It's as simple as that."
Winning their first championship in 50 years back in 2021, the Bucks looked like they would be a dominant force in the Eastern Conference for years to come and Antetokounmpo went on to address this 50-year period in which the organization had not won a championship.
"We are going to come back next year, try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better and not have a ten-day stretch with playing bad basketball," Giannis Antetokounmpo explained. "You know, hopefully we can win a championship. So 50 years from 1971 to 2021 that we didn't win a championship, it was 50 years of failure?
"No it was not. It was steps to it and we were able to win one, hopefully we can win another one."
Giannis Antetokounmpo came off as hostile in his response at first, but the way he handled himself with this question and the way he got his point across was in a respectful and incredibly insightful manner.
Obviously this loss hurts the Bucks and as their leader, this loss definitely affects Giannis. Having to answer a question about the entire season being a failure is definitely not something Antetokounmpo wanted to hear right after the loss, but the way he approached the question and answered it was truly amazing.
At 28-years-old, Giannis Antetokounmpo will now enter the offseason with the Bucks and prepare for his 11th NBA season.
As Antetokounmpo laid out in his postgame remarks, there is a path to winning a championship and there are steps to achieving greatness.
The entire Milwaukee Bucks organization will take these steps in the offseason led by Antetokounmpo and there is no doubt that they will be back and ready to compete for a championship again entering the 2023-24 NBA season.
