Bucks’ Giannis Antentokounmpo Scores Career Highs, Confronts Pacers For Game Ball After

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a career-high 64 points Wednesday night to lead the team to a 140-126 victory over the Indiana Pacers. To receive the game ball for this achievement, however, Antetokounmpo had to storm down the tunnel in search of his opponents after the final buzzer.

The Bucks and Pacers entered the game Wednesday as casual rivals, having faced one another recently during the In-Season Tournament semifinals.

Things went smoothly for most of the night, however, until the incident after the game.

Antetokounmpo, who scored 64 points on 28 field goal attempts, was looking around for the game ball to commemorate his personal-best scoring night. The ball was already on the way to Indiana’s locker room.

Antetokounmpo began running down the tunnel to confront his opponents.

He and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton exchanged heated words in front of the locker room before security finally managed to get the ball for Antetokounmpo. He later accused the Pacers of giving him a different ball, saying it did not feel like the one used in the game.

“I have no idea. I’m not going to lie,” Antetokounmpo told reporters after the game. “I have no idea. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I have a ball, but I don’t know if it’s the game ball. It doesn’t feel like the game ball to me. It feels like a brand new ball. I can tell. I played, what, 35 minutes today. I know how the game ball felt. The ball that I have, which I’ll take and I’ll give it to my mom for sure, but I don’t know if it’s actually the game ball.”

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— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 14, 2023

The Pacers originally claimed that they took the game ball in order to honor teammate Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored his first NBA basket on a free throw during the game.

But audio captured after the game also suggests that the team was aware that it was taking the ball away from Antetokounmpo.

Multiple players took to social media after the game to continue the dispute, which seemed to finally end after the Bucks’ official Twitter account posted a photo of Antetokounmpo holding the ball.