Giannis Antetokounbo: “After the decline I’m like an account to the bank that’s on the minus”

He spoke after the new Milwaukee Bucks defeat in the NBA, with “Great Freak” standing in his natural state after the virus he had. Despite the impressive appearance of John Antetokounbo, who scored 31 points, the Bucks were defeated by the Blazers. The Greek star was the only player of his team to stand out, but after the match he admitted that he has not yet found his rhythm. CORVERSE “Greek Freak” explained that the virus that plagued him recently has affected his performance and is not at the desired level. At the same time, he stressed that it was time for the Bucks to start finding their good rhythm again and to perform properly. “Great Freak” statements on what the Bucks have been doing wrong lately, resulting in losing two match streaks and what can change: “We don’t play well. In two nearby games we failed to get the win and that hurts. We don’t play well. We had a beat last time, but after Las Vegas we were back in a hole. We must focus, play harder and win the next game.” CORVERSE What do the Bucks have to do to start rolling again: “We have to decide as a team to do it. Every time we play good basketball and sometimes we don’t. There are times when we enter the floor and we believe that we can defeat any team and others we enter the floor and we can lose to anyone, which is incredible. We can watch video, talk about what’s right, but we just have to go out on the floor and do it. That’s what we did a while ago. We were tired of losing and we changed it. Now we’re at this point. I don’t know where we are in the rankings, but we have to roll. It’s January now. We have 4-6 weeks before All Star Break, now we have to collect wins and find momentum.” Whether there is a way for the Bucks and he to get stronger in the games and not wait for the second part to do it: “I have to be more aggressive. I’ve lost a lot of lay-ups. The virus affected me and slowly I find rhythm. It was the first time I’ve been away four or five days like this. I’m like a bank account where I’m now on the minus. So I have to build my body, make weights, eat, build my physical condition. I have to be more aggressive. I think I can help the team more, not only by scoring, but by making shots to my teammates, but also playing better in defense. I can start games better.” For now starting with Lillard and Middleton in the base five and if this affects the Bucks’ rhythm: “I don’t know, we’ve done it for three games. I don’t know. I think the fact that I missed nine days because of the virus played a part in this. But the plan is to start Middleton. This is Rivers’ decision, whether Middleton starts or not. It doesn’t matter who starts, but who finishes the game and in the last 6 minutes of the game you have to have competitive players on the court who can create situations, shoot and are winners. Right now it doesn’t matter who plays, but we find a way to play basketball that brings wins and I hope this happens with the Raptors.” About the fact that Lillard said he needs discipline to come victories and what he thinks he needs to change in this area: “We need to share the ball more. Defensively we need to be focused, cover each other. In the attack sometimes I feel like we shoot after a pass, fast. The ball has energy when everyone gets their hands on it and we play right, then our defense gets better. We need to play more team. We do it at intervals, but we have to do it consistently and not for five minutes. We have to do it for 48 minutes.” About whether he thinks the ball sticks to the Bucks attack because he and Lillard are trying to find rhythm after the missing time: “Maybe this is it. It’s not that the ball sticks or because we play one by one. That’s how we play and that’s why we get paid. But when we get the rebound, we have to throw the ball forward, someone pulls out a phase. If it’s not cool, we go back to the system, play Pick and Roll and turn the ball back. If the tall man doesn’t shoot, then he has to pass hand-to-hand with the corner player and roll. If it doesn’t come out, then he has to pass. If in 7-8 seconds they touch the ball three players and we don’t find shots, then the ball goes to Lillard and has 3-4 seconds to create. If he doesn’t find a shot, then the player from the corner will give him a shot while someone else is at 45 degrees. If he doesn’t find a shot, then the ball goes back to Lillard and then he plays. Sometimes we run to the park and we have so much talent that this gets in our way. We run and Lillard can play one with one against anyone. We’ve seen it for 13 years. So is Middleton. We run and play one by one instead of running a system. But sometimes when you try to find rhythm, you have to push things. You have to, this is basketball. He’s not coming alone, you have to take it. But that’s not why we’re losing. We must play more team, play better in defense and attack to find good shots and create shots for everyone.”