INDIANAPOLIS — As his teammates joked and relived each other’s antics on the bench from earlier in the night, Giannis Antetokounmpo, fresh from a 38-point, 17-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, held court in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse visitor’s locker room, the Bucks’ 149-136 smash against the Pacers.
Antetokounmpo sat in front of a locker in a Nike tracksuit and told reporters he had some sort of premonition in the training room ahead of Wednesday’s game. Not about himself, though, but about someone else: teammate and All-Star Jrue Holiday. As they stretched and prepared for the game, Antetokounmpo and a few people in the training room discussed 50-point games.
“Someone said something about 50 balls,” said Antetokounmpo. “And I said, ‘It’s hard to have 50. It is not easy. I’ve played 720 games in my career, six of them in 50, one in the playoffs. It is not easy.’ And then we talked about Jrue. And it was like, ‘Jrue can have 50.’
“And you lifted it up — and I really believe in it — and the guy came and had 50.”
When informed by The Athletic that such after-the-fact claims by star players can sometimes appear implausible, Antetokounmpo sought out a member of the Bucks coaching staff who was in the room for the interview and asked her about their pregame conversation. The training staffer confirmed the two-time NBA MVP’s portrayal of Antetokounmpo without coercion. Inspired by his premonition, which actually came to fruition on Wednesday night, Antetokounmpo came up with another idea.
“The way I’m putting it now, we’re going to win a championship,” said Antetokounmpo. “We will play as hard as we can. That’s a promise to ourselves. That’s a promise to the team. This is a promise to all hard workers this year. We will give everything to win a championship. I’ll blow it up It works out. Because today it worked for him. He had 50. It’s crazy.”
A career-high 51, to be precise. And while Antetokounmpo’s final record and newfound ability to translate greatness into reality were hard to believe, Antetokounmpo was the latest in a long line of people to publicly praise Holiday’s all-around game. Just watch the first 45 seconds of Pacers coach Rick Carlisle’s post-game press conference.
Carlisle wasn’t the first coach on the Bucks’ four-game road trip to garner praise while on vacation, either. When asked to describe Holiday’s offensive play ahead of their game against the Bucks in Denver last Saturday, Nuggets coach Mike Malone was quick to fire off a succinct and unique description.
“He’s like a power forward in a point guard’s body,” Malone said. “His ability to come downhill. One of the best lefties I can remember. He pushes the boys into the post with power and ease. He shoots the 3 – the pull up and spot up 3 – very effectively, very efficiently. Enormous pick and roll player in its own right. He draws two, he makes the correct play – pocket pass or spray pass. There’s a reason he’s an All-Star.”
Malone had no idea at the time, but his offhand description of Holiday’s game would ultimately serve as a near-perfect description of Holiday’s career night four nights later in Indianapolis.
Everything Malone planned, Holiday executed on his way to a career high against the Pacers in the Bucks’ win Wednesday. The win put the Bucks 55-21 in the season, giving them a three-game lead over the Celtics and leading to Thursday’s showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference in Milwaukee.
“He was amazing today,” Antetokounmpo said of Holiday. “We needed that from him. They played really well. They played fast. They scored 130 points and we needed every point from the 50 points he had today. He was incredible. He moved the ball, he was aggressive, he rebounded the ball, he guarded it and he was amazing.”
Holiday also added eight points and eight rebounds on the night, but his 51 points took center stage after Wednesday’s game, and rightly so. It’s not every night that a player eclipses their previous career high (40) by double digits over the course of a decade of their career.
“Obviously I’m happy about that,” Holiday said. “It took 14 years to get 50 points. Came into a game we had to win so I couldn’t be happier.”
Holiday had only scored 40 or more points three times in his career. He scored 40 points twice in the last three seasons with the Bucks and a career-high 41 points in the playoffs against the Trail Blazers in 2018. With that feat, Holiday became only the sixth player in franchise history to score at least 50 points a game featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (10 times), Antetokounmpo (six times), Michael Redd (twice), Khris Middleton and Brandon Jennings.
To get to 51 points, Holiday dominated on the rim and scored 30 points in the paint, a feat reminiscent of his MVP teammate.
“I felt like Giannis,” Holiday joked after the game. “But no dunks.”
Although he didn’t put it down like Antetokounmpo, Holiday still made 15 of his 20 tries in the color on the night. And two of those misses actually came on a possession where Holiday scored anyway in a Moses Malone-esque sequence in which he flipped the ball with the rim toward himself while fighting for rebounds in a group of players.
While Holiday showed his stamina in the third quarter of that game, he finished clean for most of the rest of the evening, using creative finishes with both hands and strong post movements with savvy footwork to take advantage of the Pacers’ defense.
In the first quarter, Holiday picked a big man with a beautiful step-through move.
But for the most part, Holiday overpowered the Pacers’ young guards.
Andrew Nembhard is strong for a rookie, but he just doesn’t have the strength to deal with Holiday in the post.
“He only bullied guys out there,” Lopez said. “You could tell he had worried her. They didn’t know what to do. He just went down there and prevailed in color. He can finish with both hands, finish by contact, finish strong. They didn’t want to hear about that tonight. That was really impressive.”
After Holiday had 27 points in the first half against the Pacers, who held their guards on Holiday in single coverage for the first two quarters, Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer called a post-up for Holiday to open the second half. In the final second of Holiday’s wrap-up, the Pacers brought in extra help, but that didn’t matter. Seeing it coming, Holiday stepped through and finished the tip with his left hand.
Holiday scored three 3-pointers that night, two of which also came from his signature stepback move, but the majority of his 51 points came from intentional post moves and soft touches on the edge.
“I think I had it going tonight, so the isos or something felt comfortable either trying to get to the color or my fade,” Holiday said. “I feel like my teammates are so good they kind of have to stay out with them, so that gives me a chance to actually iso one on one. It’s a bit easier to play one-on-one than one-on-two.”
To secure the 50-point performance, Holiday hit his final shot of the evening over former teammate Jordan Nwora after 13 straight dribbles.
After the Bucks got the ball over the halffield line, Grayson told Allen, whose dunk in the fourth quarter electrifying the crowd and the internet, Holiday fed the ball at the logo while Bennedict Mathurin covered it in the center of the floor. Holiday dribbled five times to get the ball to the right side of the floor, switching from Nwora. With Nwora on him, Holiday intentionally moved the ball toward the basket, positioning himself right where he was about to attempt a one-legged stepback fadeaway jumper.
And of course Holiday’s shot went into the net. It was his night.
The Bucks don’t need 51 points every night for Holiday to win a championship this season, but they do need him to continue playing at the All-Star level. And that feels a little easier for Holiday, even if he’s capable of more spectacular performances like Wednesday’s. Still in his 14th NBA season. At 32 years old. Nobody had expected such an incredible hit rate.
Except apparently for a man.
(Photo by Jrue Holiday: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)