Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrated his most famous 50-point performance the next day by ordering 50 chicken nuggets at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru.
He already has an idea of how to remember reaching that plateau for the third time last month.
Antetokounmpo scored 20 of his 54 points in the fourth quarter as the Milwaukee Bucks overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 106-105 on Thursday night for their sixth straight win.
“I think I have to go to Culver tomorrow,” said Antetokounmpo, who also had 18 rebounds. “I’ll go get 50 cheeseburgers and try to eat as many as I can. I’ll feed the rest to my son or give it to my dog.”
The Greek star has scored at least 50 points in three of his last 11 games. He scored a career-high 55 in a 123–113 win over Washington on January 3 and 50 in just 30 minutes in a 135–110 win over New Orleans on Sunday.
Antetokounmpo has now reached the half-century mark in six career regular-season games. That doesn’t include his 50-point outburst against the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals, which gave the Bucks their first title since 1971 and led to a trip to Chick-fil-A.
He is the only player in Bucks history along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to have at least three 50-point games in a season.
“It’s a huge compliment to be up there with Kareem,” Antetokounmpo said. “Man, I never thought I was going to score 50 in the NBA when I was drafted. It’s been a crazy, crazy journey.
In his last six games, Antetokounmpo averaged 40.2 points and 14.5 rebounds. His two free throws with 1:47 remaining put Milwaukee ahead 106–105 for their first lead since the second quarter as the Bucks scored the last seven points of the game.
Antetokounmpo missed a chance to put Milwaukee in front when he missed two free throws with 2:13 left in the game, 105–104. But he went to the basket again on the Bucks’ next possession, drew Ivica Zubac’s sixth foul, and this time hit his free throw.
“He’s tireless,” said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer. “He’s going to put himself in position to help us win. He’s going to do whatever it takes to help us win. He’s fearless and relentless. You saw what was going down there. “
The Clippers failed to capitalize on some of Milwaukee’s turnovers in the closing seconds. Kawhi Leonard missed an 18-footer in the final seconds while being guarded by Wesley Matthews with help from Pat Connaughton.
“I’ve been doing this since my mother told me when I was 4 that I had to protect the best player,” Matthews said. “That’s just who I am. Nothing but respect for those people. I feel like those people have the same [respect] for me. The best way to respect them is to try to stop them. They respect me.” The best way to give is to follow me.”
The Clippers had plenty of chances to retreat.
Paul George stole the ball from Junior Holiday and the Clippers called a timeout in a one-point game with 27.1 seconds left, but Leonard missed a jumper. Antetokounmpo got the rebound but fumbled the ball out of bounds, giving Los Angeles the lead with 15.1 seconds left.
The Clippers passed the ball to Leonard again, who missed again.
“We wanted to play it up to Connaughton, but they changed the matchup,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. “They brought Mathews in. He did a good job of getting into Kawee, making him uncomfortable and backing him up a little bit so he couldn’t get down properly.
Norman Powell scored 26 points to lead the Clippers. Leonard had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, but shot 7 of 26. Marcus Morris and George had 16 points each. Zubac had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Khris Middleton had 16 points and Holiday added 12 for the Bucks. Holliday missed his first eight shots and did not get his first basket until late in the third quarter.