The Milwaukee Bucks lost 119-118 to the Indiana Pacers in overtime in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
It was Indiana’s fourth win of the series, so Milwaukee have been eliminated from this year’s NBA Playoffs.
Many experts have even speculated whether it could turn out to be Giannis Antetokounmpo’s last game as a Bucks player.
Antetokounmpo refused to speak about his future in his post-game interview, while he said some heartfelt words about Damian Lillard.
Lillard suffered an Achilles injury in Game 4, which ended his season and could rule him out of the entire next one, too.
This makes it highly unlikely that he will play with Antetokounmpo again, even if the Greek Freak were to stay another year.
Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks’ latest defeat that he wished he had won the game for his injured teammate.
“What hurts me the most – I don’t care about losing the game – I felt like we owed this game to Dame,” he told the media. “That’s what I felt. I felt like he came back maybe earlier than he was supposed to.
“He sacrificed his body for us, and I felt like, as a team, win or lose, home or road, playoff game or not, the least we can do is show up and win a game for Dame. Obviously, it hurts that we didn’t win the game, but it hurts more that we weren’t able to win the game for Dame.”
Despite his understandable frustration at the Bucks’ playoff departure, Antetokounmpo explained that he was still “proud” of the team.
After all, they took the Pacers to overtime on the road in Game 5 without their second-best player.
“I’m very, very proud of everybody. Everybody played their hearts out,” Antetokounmpo added. “The fight from the beginning to the end.
“We guarded, we were physical, we were playing together, we moved the ball well, we shot the ball with confidence, everybody was decisive, we were picking one another up. I’m very, very proud of my guys.”
