Antetokounmpo gets early scare, while Holiday scores 4 in 21 minutes in Bucks preseason debut
Giannis Antetokounmpo got a scare just four minutes into Saturday night’s 112-102 exhibition loss to the Dallas Mavericks when he got popped in the eye when he collided with Dorian Finney-Smith.
Finney-Smith swooped in for a rebound and got inside position on Antetokounmpo. The two collided, with the Milwaukee star dropping to the court. With play continuing, he scooted past the end line and sat with his head in his hands before the Bucks called a timeout.
The injury didn’t come close to slowing down Antetokounmpo. He returned and scored 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Khris Middleton scored 18 points while Bobby Portis and D.J. Wilson had 14 apiece.
“Once I got back to the locker room, the doctor checked my eye, I felt good. I wanted to go out there and play,” he said. “It was the first game of the season. I didn’t want to just play two minutes and sit the rest of the game out. I decided to go out there, continue, play with my teammates and just enjoy this first game.
“It was good to be out there, good to go out there, have fun with my teammates and compete and just play basketball again.”
Coach Mike Budenholzer said the medical staff was “trying to decide whether he needed to get some stitches in his eye. … Pretty shallow cut. They glued it together. He’s fine. Just a little bit of a knock, little bit of blood. I don’t think anything more than that.”
Newly acquired Jrue Holiday played 21 minutes, going 2-for-7 from the field and 0 of 3 from beyond the arc in scoring four points for Milwaukee, which was just 9 of 38 from deep.
Bobby Portis, also a newcomer, scored 14 points on 7-of-15 shooting off the bench, including 2-for-4 on 3-pointers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton each played 25 minutes. Antetokounmpo scored 25 and Middleton had 18.
No starter played over 16 minutes for the Mavs. Luka Doncic had 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
TOP PHOTO – Jrue Holiday warms up before the Milwaukee Bucks first preseason game. (PHOTO: @Bucks on Twitter)