THE John Antetokounmpo took the Bucks by the hand and led them to a 123-85 victory over the Hornets. After the match ended, the Greek superstar was asked by a veteran NBAer, Brandon Jenningswhat motivated him to win back-to-back NBA MVP awards in 2019 and 2010, while he talked about the new generation on social media, which he mentioned, among other things;
“This is not the real world. If I go on social media they make me feel like I’m trash. It doesn’t matter what they say on social media about you. When they say good things about you, you’re not so good. When they say bad things about you, you’re not so bad».
In detail, what Giannis Antetokounmpo said:
On the reasoning behind his two-year (2019-2020) back-to-back season MVP awards: “I will be honest. Everyone expects me to say that I was focused and aiming for the prize. Obviously when Kobe challenged me in the offseason it was by accident. I think he was sending challenges to players in advertising, like Thomas and DeRozan. Then I saw it, I wrote to him on twitter and he told me to win the award.
I had that in the back of my mind, but going into the season I was just playing hard with Budenholzer as a coach for the first time and Lopez, Connaughton, Bledsoe as teammates. We had incredible chemistry and talk started that I was going for the award and they started to get competitive. I was happy just to be in the conversation.
I came from nowhere you know. When I entered the NBA they told me to go to the G-League, that I’m too skinny to play in the league, that I wouldn’t be able to stand it, to go back to Greece and 6-7 years later Kobe gives me a challenge and I’m in the conversation about MVP. I shouldn’t even be here, so I’ll give it my all, I’ve got nothing to lose. I played hard, I played to win and God blessed me to win the prize.
When you feel something like that you want to experience it again. Next year I had to be better. Work on my game, polish my weapons. To make my team better. I came back like that and we played 60 games. That’s what happened with the bubble. We had a 52-9 record. If this didn’t happen with the bubble or the coronavirus we would be talking differently. Maybe we’d win the championship. It is OK.
So I came in with the mindset that my teammates expect me every day to be great. Great people are never bored. I can’t get bored doing the simple things. I was able to win second prize. Since then I’ve always been in the conversation for the MVP award. But I don’t want to deal with that anymore».
For the new generation and the advice he has to give: “But for every player out there, play the game right. The younger generation looks at social media and what they say about them. This is not the reality though, this is not true. When I take my kids to school no one tells me I missed 7-8 shots. The teacher, the parents don’t tell me that.
This is not the real world. If I go on social media they make me feel like I’m trash. It doesn’t matter what they say on social media about you. When they say good things about you, you’re not so good. When they say bad things about you, you’re not so bad. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Be competitive and if you stay the course, good things will happen.
I watch matches. I don’t see highlights. The new generation sees highlights and mixtapes. I look at me, my shot, the passes I don’t see and should have seen. Such things I watch».
For the image of the Bucks: “We have to be aggressive. Defensively and offensively. In attack, we have to open up the field, make shots. We want the shooters to shoot, the tall guys to go for the rebounds. It makes it easy for us. It all starts with our defense though. If we play defense and run, open the field we are fine. If we concede a basket, it is more difficult against an organized defense. Our defense makes our offense better».
On what changed after the All Star Break and the Bucks look improved: “Trust. In the last 6-7 days we thought about what the coaches and the team want from us. We talked about our roles. That we have to play better defense, be more aggressive, shoot better. Everyone has their role and one must keep the other humble. We rested mentally and physically. It’s been a tough season for everyone, but we’re back and we have to keep improving».
For the Bucks defense: “Sometimes we go out on the floor and don’t touch our opponents and let them do what they want. We have to play hard. To make the opponents feel us. He who changes the screen to put his hand on his opponent. To feel him. We’re working on them. We don’t do it all the time, but today we played hard. We have to keep it up though».
On Portis’ new good looks: “He plays well. It’s there now. I know he hears me. He’s just playing. He feels good. Some days you’ll score, some days you won’t, but the key is to be aggressive. I feel that in the last 10 matches he has gone up.
Some games he’ll have 10, some 21 like today, some 30. We need him to do that every night. To play aggressively in defense and attack, to move the ball, to defend. The way the opposing defense plays, he will be free, either on the perimeter or under the basket. These things will come. The more energy he puts out, the more things will come to him. I feel like he’s done that the last few games and he’s just playing».
For Pat Connaughton: “He is one of the smartest players on the team. When he plays well, his energy is contagious. When he moves the ball, he makes the right decision, he shoots, he passes, he is so intelligent that it is contagious. Not many do that and Pat is one of those players.
In the last matches he has done some nails. A few weeks ago we joked that he wasn’t shooting anymore and looked like Kyle Korver. So he has to go back to the stud competition. But he came back. Missed a nail today but came back».
Source: Sport Fm
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