Good article from a Washington Post Sports reporter puts things in perspective.
I know I'm getting spoiled. The Bucks were up by 27 (and 20 in the last 15 minutes) against a team on pace to win 55 games. The game got close in the 3rd but it never got to a one possession game in the 4th. Obviously, you'd like to close out better, but it was a wire to wire win against a contending team who had two guys go off on offense. Kemba Walker's performance is not surprising, but Marcus Smart is not likely to go 5 for 10 from 3 that often.
Bledsoe lost his cool. Wes Matthews was awful on offense. But DD and Korver made up for it.
Giannis has gotten to a point where he can go 32-17-7 with 2 blocks against a team whose entire defense is geared to stop him (and beat the shit out of him at every opportunity) and shoot 50% from the floor and my first thought was that he played a poor game.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...-most-misunderstood/
“I was kind of upset after the game,” Antetokounmpo said, his focus and priorities clear. “Talking in the locker room, it was like, ‘Guys, we were up by 20, we won, but this isn’t going to go in the playoffs.’ We’ve got to play for 48 minutes. Coach Bud came in here and was steaming hot. He was angry. That’s good. He doesn’t really care about this game or the next game, he cares about how can we get better and how we can be good for 48 minutes. That’s our goal. Instead of stepping on them, we let them come back easy.”
If they played in a bigger market or if Antetokounmpo was a thirstier self-promoter, perhaps the general conversation about the Bucks would go deeper than the cautious respect they are usually paid. It’s time for their perception to change anyway. After compiling a 97-28 record under Budenholzer, the Bucks deserve to be feared and revered.