![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2252977651-1-784x523.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Giannis Antetokounmpo returns to the lineup and asserts his gravity for the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.<\/p>\n
CHICAGO \u2013 Those 48 minutes Milwaukee played against the Bulls at United Center Saturday, there was the game it might have been and then there was the game it became, a desperately needed 112-103 victory that stopped the Bucks\u2019 bleeding for the moment.<\/p>\n
In a parallel universe, maybe Giannis Antetokounmpo nurses his sore right calf for another night or two and a deep, feisty Chicago team has its way with an opponent that had dropped six of its last eight. But in reality on a tough night, with both teams laboring in the second of back-to-back games, Antetokounmpo did return and instantly reminded 20,934 fans and the NBA just who he is and why.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we\u2019ve been struggling the last month without Giannis,\u201d teammate Bobby Portis said. \u201cPeople kind of take it for granted that he\u2019 a Top 75 player, that he\u2019s a top three or top five player in the world right now. So we add him back to the team, the dynamic of our team changes immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorked wonders for us tonight, right, having him back?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ya think? The Bucks arrived dragging a 12-19 record, tied for their worst mark after 31 games of the Antetokounmpo era. The primary reason was simple: He had missed 14 of those games, several with a sore groin and then eight more since straining his right calf Dec. 3 against Detroit.<\/p>\n
With him, they had gone 9-8, bumpy enough as they navigated other injuries and assorted cast and role changes. Without him, a fuggedabouddem 3-11.<\/p>\n
But he showed up Saturday as \u201cquestionable\u201d on the team\u2019s injury report, his medical protocols met, his on-court work leading up to his return complete. There Antetokounmpo was in the pregame minutes, testing his mobility and lift via various lay-up line moves.<\/p>\n
Not long after, he made it official, swatting Matas Buzelis\u2019 layup attempt just 23 seconds into the game. By the end of the quarter he had seven points and then, in the second, he rained down a flurry of four consecutive dunks during a 12-2 run that put the Bucks up 48-33.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo did his damage in shifts, coach Doc Rivers and his staff doing the heavy math to spend his 28 restricted minutes to the greatest possible effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to save minutes in the first half so we could have him three rotations in the second half,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cHe obviously hated that. The second time we took him out I thought he was going to go nuts. We did it, we got through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivers said Milwaukee has time to dig out and push upward in the East.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re still in the playoffs or the play-in, and we haven\u2019t played worth a crap yet,\u201d the coach said. \u201cWe have a chance to make a run here. But it\u2019s not going to happen overnight. And we need more than just Giannis coming back. We all have to play better, coach better, run better, rebound better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bucks\u2019 star finished with 29 points in less than 25 minutes, making 10 of 15 shots and eight of his 10 free throws. He was a plus-13, which means Chicago outscored Milwaukee by four in the 23 minutes Antetokounmpo sat.<\/p>\n
But the difference he made in his team went well beyond the stats sheet. A spring in the other Bucks\u2019 step, chatter that was a little louder than it might have been had Antetokounmpo simply lurked in the bench in sweats, a swagger up and down the roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the above,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cConfidence. When a team is making a run and you have him on the floor, you feel like you\u2019re going to get a bucket. Or get a good shot. Where, when you don\u2019t \u2026 you can go on those droughts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putting up points at times had looked back-breaking for Milwaukee during their leader\u2019s absence. Rivers also mentioned Antetokounmpo\u2019s defense, his rim protection, his rebounding.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut confidence,\u201d he stressed again. \u201cListen, when Jordan didn\u2019t play, I don\u2019t think the Bulls had the same confidence as when he did. Same thing as Kobe \u2013 you can just go down the list. These guys, they bring confidence to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Rollins, who scored 20 for the Bucks, hit big shots late thanks to Antetokounmpo\u2019s \u201cgravity\u201d \u2013 the double-teams he draws as a scoring threat, opening up Rollins, A.J. Green and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knows what he does,\u201d Rollins said. \u201cJust having that force, that identity, that person on the way back, it\u2019s great for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one was happier than Antetokounmpo, who punctuated his return with a windmill dunk with 1.9 seconds left. Uh oh: Chicago had conceded, expecting the Greek Freak to dribble out the clock. At the horn, Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 and Coby White confronted him, then Portis upped the temperature by pushily intervening.<\/p>\n
Was it a problem that Antetokounmpo had breached some basketball decourtum, violating old-school unwritten rules? Portis scoffed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as the old book. It\u2019s a new era,\u201d the veteran Bucks forward said. \u201cWhen they put the in-season tournament in, people are supposed to score [to the end] then. What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ain\u2019t 1990, bro. It\u2019s 2025. \u201926 in a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a new year ringing in, and Milwaukee has its guy back.<\/p>\n
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n