NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HAWKS VS. BUCKS

June 23, 2021

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks

Game 1: Postgame

Atlanta Hawks 116, Milwaukee Bucks 113

Q. As you guys are going down the stretch late, Pat gets a great look, misses it. What's your message to him and I know execution-wise, it's an open three but how do you keep him high and get him through that?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: It was a great look. Great look. Did not fall. Did not go our way. But at the end of the day, execution-wise, it was great. He was wide open. He had made a bunch of shots like that before. So make or miss, we live with that.

So yeah, got to keep his head high, he's going to have a lot of opportunities to make that shot again in this series. So we believe in him and we live with the shot.

Q. What did you like about the middle pick-and-roll with Jrue? You get a couple lobs late on that. What were you seeing?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: I just see Clint Capela playing back and just having Jrue coming out of the pick-and-roll keeps him guessing and now you've got me rolling, Jrue coming with the ball for the jump shot, Khris wide open.

Q. Trying to turn Trae into a floater shooter, what did you like about that? I know you're getting more deep shots but then you give up three or four offensive rebounds. Is that the trade-off?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: We have to do a better job rebounding, but at the end of the day, I feel like he is going to his floater and that's just like [his] comfort zone, we just have to make it as tough as possible for him and make him play a lot of one-on-one. He's a great player. He's going to score, and he has the ball a lot in his hands. We have to make it as tough as possible. We have to be physical with him. We have to send him to the free throw line. We just have to make it from the first minute to the last minute, tough.

Q. Last series, you guys and P.J. [Tucker] talked about when Kevin [Durant] got going, the frustrating part was when the teammates picked it up. Was it the lobs that happened late, and other guys getting involved in the fourth quarter run? Was that the frustrating part?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Who was frustrating?

Q. Trae getting the lobs to John [Collins], to Clint to get the rest of the team going, was that more frustrating as a defense than Trae getting the floater?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Just got to do a better job. Unfortunately, we lost the game but that specific part, we just have to do a better job. The guy from -- the mid-guy, low man guy, got to come help. Got to show his body, you know, but I think the most frustrating part about this game is the offensive rebounds. Like they got three offensive rebounds back-to-back and they got a three out of it and they got the game-winning bucket out of it, Clint Capela. I think that's the most frustrating part.

But hopefully we can make an adjustment, make it tough for Trae Young, make it tough for those guys to not get easy looks for the lobs and hopefully we can put ourselves in a position to win Game 2.

Q. Is the offensive rebounding difficult to a degree when it is 28 feet, 30-foot shots?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Yeah, it's harder because the ball bounces long. So it makes it a lot harder for us to rebound and especially when you switch, when Jrue gets out there, when I'm out there guarding Trae Young and he shoots over us and now Clint -- from the corner and so it makes it a lot harder.

But at the end of the day, you have to find a way to get it done. We're going to watch the tape tomorrow. Make some adjustments and come back in Game 2 and put ourselves in a position to win the game hopefully.

Q. When you're talking about offensive rebounding, is it a schematic adjustment or effort?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: It's effort. Effort. You've got to compete. You've got to put your body on the line. You've got to box out. You've got to believe in your physicality. It's more effort.

Q. And secondly, Trae was just asked about the shimmy before he hit that three and he said he had time -- do you as someone who takes a lot of pride in your game, do you take that personally?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: He's just having fun. He's enjoying the game. Obviously I wouldn't want him to make the shot. But he's having fun. He's enjoying the game. We're going to do the same as a team. We are going to have fun and enjoy the game and there's going to be times when Jrue might see me or whatever the case may be, or I might -- it's just part of the game. So can't take that personally.

Q. Is it easier to be down 1-0 in a playoff series and be okay? You guys went through such a rough series last series and came through it. Just wondering if you feel better or more comfortable down 1-0 knowing it's a long series than maybe in the past?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: No, it's not easy. It never gets easy. You don't want to lose. You don't want to be down. But at the end of the day as I said, you can't get too high. You can't get too low. You've got to come out, Game 2, got to compete and wish for the best.

But at the end of the day, it didn't get easy. Doesn't matter if we were down 2-0 in Brooklyn. That was a different series. That doesn't mean we might be down one or two and get back. Might be a totally different case. So never gets easy. At the end of the day, we've got to come, as I said, we've got to do our job. We've got to do better.

Q. They went on a 9-0 run to get up seven with four-plus minutes left in the game. What was the difference this time around?

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: They did a good job executing. They did a good job executing, got to the free throw line, got to offensive rebounds. We got some good looks that didn't go in.