"One of the most hurt moments in my career"- Giannis Antetokounmpo admits he is still salty about Milwaukee Bucks' loss in the 2019 ECF

Giannis shared he is still hurt by 2019 ECF loss to the Toronto Raptors.

© Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

There is no one better in the NBA today than Giannis Antetokounmpo. He has proven himself to be a champion and a dominant force. But it was only a few years ago, that Giannis was considered a great player and not someone who could lead a team to a championship.

The doubts started after Giannis' first MVP season in 2019. He dominated the regular season, and the Bucks ended with the best record in the NBA. But they fell short in the playoffs, and Giannis's play was called into question.

This was all due to one Eastern Conference Finals against the Toronto Raptors, where the Bucks were sent home packing after six games. Until today, this is one of the toughest losses he has faced in his career, and Giannis himself admitted that.

Giannis admits he is still salty about the 2019 ECF loss

The 'Greek Freak' was recently on his teammate Serge Ibaka's show 'How hungry are you?'. They talked about several things, and Ibaka brought up the 2019 Bucks loss to the Raptors. Ibaka was flaunting the fact he beat Giannis, but the Bucks star shared it was a tough pill to swallow for him.

" That's probably one of the most hurt moments in my career. I'm not gonna lie, I'm still salty about it." Giannis explained.

"The first game we beat you guys by 5 or 7, the second game we beat you guys by 20... Then we were up 2, then we go to Toronto, game 3 went to overtime. We were up 12, four minutes to go and I think we you guys won that game, the momentum switched. " Giannis reminisced.

The Raptors were down in the series, but everything turned around in Game 3, where they won in overtime. After this, they started believing they could win, and they blew out the Bucks in Game 4. They would win the next 2 games to advance to the NBA Finals, where they would win their first title in franchise history.

Giannis had a poor series against the Raptors

The ECF also highlighted several glaring holes in Giannis' game. His inability to shoot the jumper consistently was a huge problem in the playoffs.

Giannis averaged 22.7 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists on 44% shooting in that series. He also averaged over 4 turnovers per game, and his ball-handling skills also came into question.

But the Greek Freak answered his critics in style a couple of years later, as he put in a dominant performance in the 2021 Playoffs, finally breaking out and winning a championship for the city of Milwaukee. He followed it up with another impressive playoff outing the year after, cementing his status as the best player in the world.