Giannis Antetokounmpo declared after the Milwaukee Bucks could not complete a comeback on the road in Cleveland on Oct. 26 that good teams don’t lose two games in a row, and his team responded with a 121-111 victory over the New York Knicks on Oct. 28 at Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks did finish off a comeback this time, rallying from 14 points down in the second quarter to improve to 3-1 on the year.
The Bucks’ leader, who yelled “This is my city!” during the comeback in the third quarter, also said this version of the Bucks were going to have to play hard, and compete nightly, to win.
After the game, Antetokounmpo felt the challenge was met and accepted.
“I think all four games we’ve played, we’ve played to win – and that’s a great habit to have,” Antetokounmpo said. “Even when we were down 15 against the Cavs or we were down 12 against the Knicks, we didn’t put our head down, we didn’t give up.
“It’s very easy; I think it’s very easy mentally to just be weak and just let the game go away and actually go their way. I love what I’m seeing. I think guys are playing to win. And this is what we’re going to do this year.
“This is why we’re here. This is why we wear this jersey. This is why we represent the fans. This is why we represent our team, our family. We play to win. And this is how it’s going to be the whole year. “
No possession better embodied that than a critical series in the fourth quarter that began with his block on New York forward OG Anunoby and only ended after he and Myles Turner collected consecutive offensive rebounds, ending with Antetokounmpo making a free throw for a 114-105 lead with 2 minutes, 15 seconds left that effectively clinched the game.
“That’s that type of mentality and I think that we just have the perfect team right now,” Kyle Kuzma said. “We have the perfect team. We’ve got to be able to stay locked in and stay true to what we’re trying to do and accomplish because we just have great synergy right now. I think if we can continue to be a team and grow every single game, we give ourselves a chance every night.”
BOX SCORE: Bucks 121, Knicks 111
To get to winning time, Milwaukee turned up the heat defensively in the third quarter and held New York to 20 points while scoring 35 of its own to take a 94-91 lead into the fourth.
New York, which fell to 2-2, outscored Milwaukee 45-32 in the second quarter to take a 71-59 lead into the break but they could not finish it off.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson led his team with 36 points. Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 37 points, and he added eight rebounds and seven assists. Ryan Rollins scored a career-high 25 points and four steals. Gary Trent Jr. (11) also reached double figures while all 10 Bucks who played, scored.
“I think we have the personnel, we have the players to win games,” Antetokounmpo said. “And it shows. I believe that our bench is one of the best benches in the NBA. We scored (34) points I think, (34) points to their 18. And it’s going to be like that. I think once our vets start rolling and guys start like feeling more comfortable with our offense, because it’s early in the season and we’re going to be better Game 15 than Game 3, we’re going to be better Game 40 or Game 82 than Game 2 or 3.”
Last season, the Knicks swept the season series 3-0 and had won five straight games over the Bucks dating back to Dec. 25, 2023.
“In order for us to be one of the best teams in the league, or in the East, we have to beat the best teams,” Antetokounmpo said. “Both teams last year (Cleveland and New York), I think they swept us.
“The Knicks did not just sweep us, they beat us really, really well. And this year it’s totally different. As I said last game, no excuses, it doesn’t matter who plays as long as we dress up and show up, we gotta play hard and we gotta try to win games.”
Bucks slow down Karl-Anthony Towns
Milwaukee threw a series of defenders at all-NBA big man Karl-Anthony Towns, from Antetokounmpo to Turner to a hobbled Kyle Kuzma (sprained left ankle) to Bobby Portis Jr. The quartet of defenders, all 6 feet, 10 inches or taller, bothered Towns into 2 of 11 shooting overall and limited his looks from behind the 3-point line (0-for-3).
Kuzma’s effort was particularly notable, as Bucks head coach Doc Rivers was surprised to learn before the game that the forward would play after missing a game with a sprained ankle.
Kuzma’s ankle was visibly swollen pregame, but he put together several strong defensive possessions against Towns in the post late in the third quarter to help the Bucks take a lead into the fourth quarter.
“Well, I’m a physical guy, too,” Kuzma said. “I think my physique may not look necessarily super physical to guard four-five guys but I’ve done that over my career. I just try to take pride and be a star in my role and this team wants me to be extremely active defensively, whether it’s guarding a five or guarding Brunson when I started the game. Just try to come in and do what’s asked of me for the ball club.”
Then, late in the game, AJ Green got into the act and drew a charge on Towns. That led to two Turner free throws and a 109-103 Bucks lead with 3:45 to go. Towns scored just eight points in 35 minutes, but he did pull down 12 rebounds.
Ryan Rollins showing quick growth
It feels like with each passing game in the young season, Ryan Rollins is improving in some aspect.
Already slated to have a big role this year as the backup point guard, he was thrust into a bigger role once starter Kevin Porter Jr. was injured in the first quarter of the opener on Oct. 22.
Rollins stepped in as a starter in Toronto and Cleveland, scoring a total of 27 points and handing out 10 assists. He had not found his outside shot yet (38% overall, 18% from behind the 3-point arc) entering the game vs. New York but started the season 9-for-9 from the free throw line and tied for second in the NBA with 2.7 steals per game in averaging a career-high 31 minutes per game.
Rivers said before the game against the Knicks that growth, how quickly it is shown or not, is never predictable but said the team has been happy with the way Rollins has handled the last few games.
“Just the feel of the game, the more you play you just feel the game more, you get more comfortable in it, making reads and figuring out your spots, your teammates spots,” Rollins said in Cleveland of the increased playing time. “That’s really all it is to it.”
But it’s just the raw stats that are easy to track, but some subtle ones.
After fouling out in just 15 minutes in a preseason game, he acknowledged he had to be smarter with his defensive pressure and decision making. Heading into the game against the Knicks, Rollins had been whistled seven times while coming up with a league-high 18 deflections, eight steals and a blocked shot. He added four more steals against New York.
Against Washington Oct. 22, Rollins laughed after the game that Wizards veteran Khris Middleton “pump faked” him on a challenge at the rim and forced him into an awkward pass attempt instead of a dunk. In the last two games, though, Rollins has thrown down some poster-worthy slams.
“I know my capability, so I know when I get downhill if nobody’s there I can go finish at the rim,” he said. “I’m going to keep doing that.”
Then with Porter out in Toronto on Oct. 24 and Cole Anthony going down with an illness in Cleveland, Rollins found himself having to playmake and run the offense more often. He turned it over just twice against the Cavaliers pressure schemes while handing out eight assists and scoring 14 points.
“Doc kept saying that to me, just pulling it and getting downhill,” Rollins he said after the game in Cleveland. “Getting downhill kind of just pulls in the defense, so a lot of kicks will be open, pops, corner, wing passes, slot cuts, all those type of actions. So really just getting downhill, getting into the paint and making the read from there.”
Even in-game, Rollins showed growth as well.
In Toronto, the Raptors pressured, and the Bucks wanted Rollins to get into the paint – and he did to the tune of 4 of 5 shooting.
Early in the loss to Cleveland, two-time all-NBA guard Donovan Mitchell put Rollins on skates in the game’s first early Cavaliers possessions, but Mitchell didn’t get a shot off in either scenario. But, as the adrenaline leveled out, Rollins helped harass Mitchell into 0-for-5 shooting in the first quarter and was 4 of 13 through three frames before he made some clutch shots (5-for-7) in the closing quarter. Mitchell also turned it over five times.
“He’s an aggressive scorer, got downhill a lot, he had some good moves on me, but for the most part I feel like I did a solid job on him,” Rollins said. “I gotta make it tougher, though, next time. For sure.”
That next time came quickly on Oct. 28, as he was tasked with helping to defend all-NBA Knicks point guard Brunson.
Once Porter is fully healthy again, Rollins will slide back into the backup role – but he’s getting an early, heavy dose of high leverage minutes and how he’s improving in real time has not gone unnoticed. And it can only embolden the Bucks going forward that he can help provide offense alongside Bobby Portis Jr. and Kyle Kuzma in all-bench units.
“I’m actually really proud of him, man, for real,” Bucks center Myles Turner said. “He’s taken on a lot of responsibility at a young age, a very young part of his career. We worked out a little bit together in Dallas and had some conversations. He’s coming off a shoulder surgery, so he really didn’t have much of an offseason to get his game as right as he would’ve liked to probably. I think a lot is being thrown at him really fast but he’s doing a really good job of handling it. I still think he still definitely has a lot learn, there’s room for growth, but that’s anybody in this league. I’m really proud of the way he’s handling things and I think he’s definitely the man for the job.”
Jalen Brunson once again dominates Bucks
The Bucks drastically remade their back court in the offseason, but they still had no answer for Knicks all-star point guard Jalen Brunson.
Granted, Milwaukee was without starting point guard Kevin Porter Jr. – a 6-foot, 6-inch obstruction on the defensive end – but Brunson had his way with any and all Bucks defenders from Ryan Rollins to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Brunson scored 23 first half points on 9 of 14 shooting and got to the free throw line six times while drawing four fouls. His effort helped the Knicks to a 71-59 lead. He added another 13 points in the final 24 minutes of play, but he was also clearly hobbled with a leg injury down the stretch – even though he did not exit the game.
“I thought in the first half he had his way and in the second half he didn’t,” Rivers said. “I thought we just made everything very physical. They were by far the more physical team in the first half and we were by far the more physical team in the second half. It was a tale of two halves in that way.
He finished with 36 points on 14 of 25 shooting. He was also 7 of 9 from the free throw line and played 35 minutes.
Despite the raw numbers, the Bucks outscored the Knicks by 11 points when Brunson was on the floor.
Coming into the game Brunson had played in four of the Knicks’ five straight victories over the Bucks beginning Christmas Day in 2023, and in those four games he averaged 35 points and 7.3 assists per game on 53% shooting overall (53-for-100). As he did on Oct. 28, Brunson did most of his damage inside the 3-point line by drawing 24 fouls and going 26-for-32 from the free throw line. He made just 8 of 24 (33%) of his 3-point shots in those games.
Five numbers
3: Wins on the season for the Bucks. They did not win their third game last season until Nov. 12.
Rollins: “It’s important and it’s good that we’re doing it now, just to have this; it gives us an energy and like a liveliness and a bump to our team that you get from winning. You can’t really get it from losing. So, just having that confidence. Winning makes everything feel better at the end of the day, so just gotta go out there and keep doing what we’ve been doing. It’s great that we’ve been winning, just try to keep building from it now.”
4-7: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s performance from behind the 3-point line to start this season (four games) after missing his one attempt vs. the Knicks. Antetokounmpo did not make his fourth 3-pointer of last season until his 26th game (4 of 18) and didn’t make his fifth until his 47th game (6 of 32).
4:55: Time left in the third quarter when Giannis Antetokounmpo attempted his first free throw. He was just 5 of 7 from the line in the game after entering the contest averaging 11.7 attempts.
11:46: Time on the clock in the third quarter when Bucks guard AJ Green got his first shot, a made 3-pointer. Green then proceeded to knock three straight triples down.
Rivers: “It’s important. That was the first thing at halftime, I looked at his; first of all he was in foul trouble. Struggling a little bit. I told our coaches, ‘I gotta get AJ a shot.’ And so we ran the play, he got a shot, and that got him going. You know, because a guy that shoots the ball that way and is frustrated with fouls, you gotta get him going, make him feel better about playing defense, too.”
Green: “I’m grateful that he drew up a great play, Giannis set a great screen, we executed it. And make or miss, got a shot that I was comfortable with. I think our whole team, a lot of the second half we knew how we needed to come out and respond and the ball moved. We got stops, we played faster, so that kind of sparked everything.”
42.4: The Bucks’ 3-point percentage on the game.
Ryan Rollins exits game with lip laceration, returns
Bucks point guard Ryan Rollins suffered a cut on his lip in the opening minutes of the game, and exited after knocking down a corner 3-pointer to give his team an early 8-3 lead. After he went to the locker room to get that injury handled, the Knicks went on a 13-0 run. Rollins returned late in the quarter and hit a layup to give the Bucks a 27-26 lead after one.
Is Giannis playing tonight?
Yes. Antetokounmpo is off the injury report for the first time this season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo named Eastern Conference player of the week
The Bucks’ superstar got off to a historic start to the season, becoming the first player to score 100 or more points, pull down 40 or more rebounds and have at least 15 assists in the first three games of the season, and for his efforts he was named the first Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the 2025-26 season.
Antetokounmpo became just the fourth player in league history (Luka Dončić, Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson) to begin a season with three consecutive 30/10/5 games.
He capped the week of Oct. 21-26 with his 55th career 40-point game, tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the franchise record. It is Antetokounmpo’s 28th such honor.
Milwaukee Bucks injury report
Bucks starting lineup
Guards: Gary Trent Jr., AJ Green, Ryan Rollins
Forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Center: Myles Turner
What channel are the Bucks on?
This is the Bucks’ NBC and Peacock regular season debut, with Mike Tirico, Jamal Crawford, Reggie Miller and Zora Stephenson on the call.
What time is the Bucks game?
Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.
Bucks vs Knicks odds, over/under
Milwaukee is a 1.5-point favorite tonight over New York, with the over/under set at 229.5 points per BetMGM.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks top New York Knicks 121-111 behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 37 points
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
