Giannis takes Manhattan: Bucks’ rising star beats Knicks with game-winning step-back

Giannis Antetokounmpo has had one hell of a week.

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He ended 2016 by demolishing the Chicago Bulls to the tune of 35 points on 19 shots with nine rebounds, seven assists, a career-high seven blocks and two steals. He began 2017 by outdueling MVP favorite Russell Westbrook with the kind of scintillating play that gives opposing fans cause to jump on the bandwagon. He became the first Buck in 35 years to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And on Wednesday night, he completed an age-old rite of passage for superstars in the making, authoring a signature moment at Madison Square Garden.

With 8.6 seconds remaining and the New York Knicks holding on to a 104-103 lead, the Bucks inbounded the ball, looking for their game-changing 22-year-old to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Antetokounmpo backed down Knicks forward Lance Thomas, worked his way from the right block to the foul line and — after Knicks center Joakim Noah retreated off his double-team to check Greg Monroe and point guard Derrick Rose offered no help despite sagging several feet off rookie Malcolm Brogdon — he created space from Thomas with a broad-jump stepback, rose, fired, and drilled a 15-foot fadeaway with no time remaining on the clock to rip the hearts out of the MSG faithful and give Milwaukee a 105-104 victory.

“I was looking for Jason Terry for the open 3,” Antetokounmpo told NBA TV’s Isiah Thomas after the game. “But he wasn’t there, so I knew I had to go to work. I looked at the time [on the shot clock on the other end of the floor] and I made sure I took the last shot.”

Antetokounmpo gave himself the chance to play hero on the offensive end by getting the Bucks possession on the defensive end.

Thomas had missed a jumper with 12 seconds remaining, but Knicks guard Courtney Lee came up with an offensive rebound that forced the Bucks to foul, giving New York the ball back with 9.7 seconds left. Rose raced to the sideline to receive the inbounds pass from Carmelo Anthony …

… only to see Antetokounmpo use his go-go-Gadget arm to reach over Rose’s left shoulder and knock the ball out of bounds. The referees initially called the ball out off the Bucks, but reversed the decision after video review showed the ball touched Rose’s hip last before bouncing out, giving the Bucks another chance. Antetokounmpo made the most of it, sending the Bucks to their third straight win and handing the Knicks their sixth straight loss.

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Antetokounmpo’s jumper capped a huge second-half comeback by the Bucks, who trailed by 16 points with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter and by seven with 4:21 left in the fourth, but who made play after play in the final frame to keep the pressure on Jeff Hornacek’s team.

Milwaukee outscored the Knicks 44-27 over the final 15:21 of regulation, thanks in part to key contributions from veteran reserves Terry, Mirza Teletovic and Greg Monroe, all of whom chipped in eight points during the game-closing run, and strong table-setting by eye-catching rookie Brogdon, who dished six of his eight assists and snagged four of his six rebounds during that stretch.

Antetokounmpo, of course, led the way, taking over the game by attacking the basket, getting himself to the line, and taking the breath away from the fans at the World’s Most Famous Arena with the kind of borderline-unbelievable play he now seems to make on a near-nightly basis: taking off from the left elbow with a just-inside-the-free-throw-line fast-break dunk that cut the Knicks’ lead to four midway through the fourth:

Over the final 6 1/2 minutes of Wednesday’s game, Antetokounmpo outscored the Knicks by himself, 12-9. He’d finish with 27 for the game on 10-for-18 shooting from the field, 1-for-4 from 3-point range and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, adding 13 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal in 38 1/2 minutes.

It was a superstar performance from a player all but certain to make his first All-Star appearance next month. It was an example of the two-way game-tilting power of a player who entered Wednesday leading his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, and leading the Eastern Conference in Player Efficiency Rating, Real Plus-Minus, Box Plus-Minus and Value Over Replacement Player.

It was enough to leave Anthony — who played a stellar all-around game, with a game-high 30 points (10-for-23 from the field, 4-for-10 from 3, 6-for-8 from the stripe), 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals — feeling beside himself with frustration at a missed opportunity to get off the schneid:

Playing without Kristaps Porzingis, who missed his third straight game as he continues to battle a sore Achilles tendon, the Knicks showed significantly better effort in the first half than they mustered in losses to the Rockets and Magic, weathering a slow start by Anthony thanks to hot shooting from Rose and reserve Mindaugas Kuzminskas and entering halftime knotted at 52.

They took control in the third quarter, as ‘Melo heated up with 14 points and Noah added a half-dozen points and rebounds to help stake the Knicks to a 14-point edge, 87-73, entering the final quarter. But two nights after Hornacek wondered aloud whether his team even had the personnel to be capable of playing good defense, New York fell apart down the stretch.

The Knicks committed six turnovers in the final stanza, leading to 11 Bucks points. They shot just 30.4 percent from the field and struggled to get back in transition, yielding 13 fast-break points in the fourth. They struggled to deal with the physicality of Antetokounmpo and Monroe on the interior, sending Milwaukee to the line 13 times in the deciding 12 minutes.

Giannis, for his part, showed that he does have that dog in him, accepting the challenge of the ball in his hands with the game on the line and making a special play on a special stage to keep his charmed week going strong.

He’ll get his chance, and the Knicks will get their shot at redemption, on Friday, when these two teams play the back-end of their home-and-home set in Wisconsin.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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