![The Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks squared off Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, with the game ending in Giannis Antetokounmpo freaking the hell out. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — @cjzero]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-14-1.20.26-AM-fotor-2023121412253-e1702535018323.jpg "The Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks squared off Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, with the game ending in Giannis Antetokounmpo freaking the hell out. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — @cjzero]")
What a way to kill putting a smooth 64 on the board.
The Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks squared off Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, with the Bucks getting the 140-126 victory thanks to power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s absolutely magnificent night.
It was truly a historic performance, one for the ages, with “The Greek Freak” tallying a mesmerizing stat line of 64 points (a franchise record), 14 rebounds, three assists, four steals and a block to boot, and the shooting came off a flashy 20-of-28 figure. It’s some of the best basketball I’ve ever seen in 37 minutes of play. (RELATED: NBA Slams Warriors’ Draymond Green With Indefinite Suspension Because They’re Sick Of His ‘Repeated History’)
But after the game, all of that was completely overshadowed by a dramatic scene that quite frankly had my eyes wide open with popcorn in hand … oh yeah, the entertainment was juicy.
So let’s go ahead and play it out for you. The Bucks win and everybody starts to leave the court, and the first person to grab the game ball from the referee was a Pacers assistant coach.
Pacers assistant stole the game ball from Giannis pic.twitter.com/3GxvDQlcKG
— Tedd Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) December 14, 2023
But the problem was, Giannis wanted the game ball, and when he found out that Indiana took it, he was LIVID.
The Pacers took the game ball after Giannis’ 64-point career-high
Giannis attempted to retrieve the ball
(via @ChrisBHaynes)
pic.twitter.com/bFQLGmbuvv https://t.co/4rtkDzcNJD
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 14, 2023
Come to find out, the Pacers wanted the ball for their rookie Oscar Tshiebwe after he scored his first NBA basket in the game — he scored one point off one free throw. (LMAO)
B/R Sources: Initial explanation from one member of Pacers to Bucks players as to why they took the game ball from Giannis Antetokounmpo: They wanted to give it to a rookie who scored his first career basket.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 14, 2023
And Giannis ended up getting his way and landed the game ball, courtesy of Bucks security bossin’ out the Pacers.
Bucks security was able to retrieve the game ball for Giannis Antetokounmpo, sources say. https://t.co/VuM2u2HCt2
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 14, 2023
After the game, Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle said that some craziness popped off when the teams were headed back to their locker rooms, which ultimately ended in both Giannis and Oscar hilariously getting a game ball each. Yes, after all that.
Rick Carlisle explains what happened after the final buzzer in Milwaukee. Says the Pacers’ GM caught an elbow from a player. pic.twitter.com/jjzDjhuYIW
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 14, 2023
Talk about a night, one that closed out as an embarrassing overshadow of what was a brilliant performance.
Sad … but entertaining.