Bucks Zone

"I don't know most of them" - Giannis Antetokounmpo reacts to facing a Brooklyn Nets team missing several key players

Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t know most of the players he went up against on Wednesday night.

Matthew Dugandzic

© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
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With three starters in civilian clothes, the Brooklyn Nets paraded unfamiliar faces in their 122-144 blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night.

The Nets’ lineup, mainly composed of rookies and players on two-way contracts, threw the Bucks off, and one of those who needed to adjust to the opponent’s unfamiliar roster was Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Brooklyn’s rag-tag roster impresses Giannis

Giannis admitted not knowing most of the players that the Nets fielded in, but the Greek Freak admitted the unfamiliar faces made a good account of themselves.

“They competed hard,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t know most of them, but definitely, I’ll learn them after today because they made it extremely, extremely tough for us.”

Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn rested starters Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton, and Cam Johnson. Two other starters, Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas, played a few minutes in the first quarter and did not return.

Vaughn decided to rest his key players as they played the back end of a back-to-back. The Nets ended a five-game road trip on Tuesday night in Detroit, and after their 22-point loss to the Bucks, they are set to embark on a four-game road trip.

Giannis and company took care of business

The undermanned Nets kept close in the early goings, but the Bucks put them away with a 9-2 run late in the third and never looked back after building double-digit leads early in the fourth.

“They knew they were kind of undermanned, but I think Jacque’s doing a phenomenal job there,” Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said.

Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 32 points, ten rebounds and eight assists. Khris Middleton added 27 points and ten assists, while Malik Beasley, Cameron Payne, Bobby Portis Jr., and MarJon Beauchamp combined for 60 points to offset Damian Lillard’s meager 12-point performance.

Rookie Jalen Wilson led the Nets in scoring with 21 points. The Nets selected Wilson as the 51st overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

While it took a strong endgame performance before the Bucks put the game away against a depleted opponent, Griffin was still happy with the effort of his wards as they made sure that no huge upset would happen before they headed to Cleveland to end their four-game road trip.

“But we took care of business and again, games like this, you’ve just got to find a way to win and get ready for Cleveland,” said Griffin.

The Milwaukee Bucks pull away late to beat the Brooklyn Nets

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Matthew Dugandzic
MATTHEW DUGANDZIC

Matthew finished his bachelor's degree in Economics (Management) at the University of Split and got his master's degree in the same field at the University of Zadar. Whether it is playing the game as an undersized 6'3'' power forward or simply watching it, Matthew can't get enough of it. After all, he has been an avid NBA fan since the 2000s. But don't get him wrong, as Matthew still loves the old-school NBA and is a true student of the game. From on-court moments to off-court stuff, whether it's about the stars of modern-day basketball or legends of the game, Matthew covers every category of the NBA world and basketball in general, as long as it makes for an engaging and exciting story.