Giannis continues to ‘incur’ Abdul-Jabbar’s wrath as he blast colleagues for losing to Houston

Giannis continues to ‘incur’ Abdul-Jabbar’s wrath as he blasts colleagues for losing to Houston 

NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo again reached and surpassed the 40-point barrier by scoring 48 points, plus 17 rebounds, against the Houston Rockets in Texas.

His mammoth effort to do it all was not enough and the Milwaukee Bucks fell 112-108, but far from the criticism the Greek center himself hurled at his team and the warning that they have four months to fix the situation, Anteto once again took a bite out of his franchise's history.

In doing so, he equalled none other than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leader in Bucks history.

The Greek already broke the franchise record for most points in a game this season when he scored 64 against the Indiana Pacers. In fact, his 48 against the Rockets was the second consecutive 40-plus-point game and the sixth time so far this season.

Giannis equals Abdul-Jabbar in overall franchise scoring, although the legendary center managed to do it twice

With his 18, Giannis ranks 18th on the NBA's all-time list of players with the most 45+ games. He is tied with Bernard King and Bob Pettit and is one behind Larry Bird and Damian Lillard, two behind Jabbar himself and Westbrook and Durant and three behind Jerry West. All of them are far behind Michael Jordan's 76, who is second, and Wilt Chamberlain's 176, who is the undisputed leader.

With his display against Houston, Antetokounmpo also joined a select club by becoming only the third player in history to average 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists on 55 per cent shooting over a 10-game stretch in the same season. Nikola Jokic (in 2022) and Wilt Chamberlain (in 1966 and 1967) preceded the Greek.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee Bucks ended their brief three-game road trip on Saturday with a tough loss to the Houston Rockets, 112-108. It was far from the result the Bucks were hoping for against a now 18-16 Rockets side, but the fact that Milwaukee failed to live up to their own lofty standards on Saturday night only meant that they were bound to lose.

According to the seven-time All-Star, what led to his team’s downfall against Houston was their defense — or rather, the lack thereof:

“Offense is gonna be there some nights, and, some nights, it’s not going to be there,” Antetokounmpo said, to The Athletic. “Your defensive effort, though, has got to be there. And defensively, our effort was not there. There was no pride. Guys were just driving the ball, straight-line drive, getting to the paint, over-helping, shooting 3s, offensive rebounds. There was nothing. This was not the Milwaukee Bucks. This is not who we are.”