Giannis Antetokounmpo fuels Bucks-Pacers beef with game-ball accusation

After failing to do so, Antetokounmpo returned to the court and had a heated conversation with Tyrese Haliburton over the incident.

While Antetokounmpo was given the ball later on, he expressed his concerns that it’s not the real game ball. During his postgame presser, he also defended his actions of charging to the Pacers, emphasizing that he’s not simply assuming they had the ball. He knows it.

“I knew they had the game ball. I didn’t think they had the game ball. I knew they had the ball. First of all, I don’t know how it works, but I assume, like I can just not walk into any arena that I play in and take the ball,” Antetokounmpo responded when asked if he was under the impression Indiana took the ball, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic.

Antetokounmpo also shared that he couldn’t believe the Pacers took the ball to give it to their rookie, Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored his first official NBA points. After all, it was an unforgettable night for the Bucks, with Damian Lillard cracking the top five of the all-time three-pointers list as well.

The Greek Freak shared that he offered Lillard the ball that the Bucks gave him because the guard deserves it. At the end of the day, Milwaukee played in its home court as well and should have the rights for the ball after everything that they just did.

“Like Dame was fifth all time, I scored 60. At the end of the day, the ball that they gave us, I offered it to Dame. Like I scored 60, he scored multiple times 60, he scored 70, he should have had the ball. But at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s fair for anybody. And I understand. Look, I understand when you score your first point in the NBA, you want to have the ball or whatever the case might be, but at the end of the day, we’re talking about the guy that just jumped over, skipped Kyle Korver, in the all-time list,” Antetokounmpo furthered.

“And in my opinion, I feel like we should all kind of stop what we’re doing and appreciate greatness because as Kyle Korver said in the video, ‘How many people can say they’re top five in something that they do?’ He’s made the (fifth) most threes in NBA history. I’m right there. I’m chasing him. I’m 2,000 3s away. But yeah, I don’t know.”

It is important to note that the Pacers did take the ball, or at least they thought they did. Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle shared after the game that they took it to give to Tshiebwe. Later on, however, it was reported that what the team got was a backup ball and not the real game ball.

The Bucks are said to have retrieved the game ball, though as Giannis mentioned, he’s not sure if it’s the real one because it felt knew.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Expects Intense January Meeting Between Milwaukee Bucks, Indian Pacers

The game-ball controversy aside, Antetokounmpo shared his respect for the Pacers basketball-wise. With that said, considering all that transpired on Wednesday night, he expects their next meeting to be intense.

“At the end of the day, good team. They played extremely hard. They have a great coach, they’re very well coached and we know that we are going to see them in January again and we know that they’re going to play at their best and we gotta be ready. And if we’re not ready, they’re going to beat us like the last two times that we saw them,” the Milwaukee Bucks star said.

The Bucks and Pacers meet again on Jan. 1 and 3. Indiana currently leads the regular-season series 2-1, so that should give Milwaukee plenty of motivation as well.