Giannis Antetokounmpo drops career-high 55 points to lead Bucks past Wizards

The club was only a matter of time before Giannis Antetokounmpo joined.

On Tuesday night, Antetokounmpo had an incredible game, scoring a career-high of 55 points, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a 123-113 win over the Washington Wizards. This marks the fourth 50-point game in the last few days, demonstrating the exciting stretch of basketball the NBA is currently experiencing.

“He’s been phenomenal,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said, via Bally Sports. There are not enough words to describe him. He was so special tonight.”

The Bucks lead throughout the contest on Tuesday, and they finished the first half with a 15-0 run that lasted almost the final four minutes of the second quarter. The Wizards repeatedly struggled to cut down the 12-point lead that the burst gave them at the break.

Thanks largely to Antetokounmpo, the closest they got was within two near the start of the fourth quarter after a Daniel Gifford free throw, but the Bucks quickly surged ahead once again and cruised to the 10-point win. En route to the win, Antetokounmpo dropped 12 of the Bucks’ final 14 points of the night, their second in three games. He shot 33% from the field, adding 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis both had double-doubles for Milwaukee, with Lopez dropping 21 points and 12 rebounds and Portis adding 17 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points and had nine rebounds, and Kyle Kuzma scored 20 points and had four rebounds.

This is the 14th 50-point game of the season for Antetokounmpo. There were only 19 games throughout the league last year by comparison. Both Donovan Mitchell and Klay Thompson scored at least 50 points in their respective games on Monday. Luka Doncic, star of the Dallas Mavericks, had 51 points on Saturday. Antetokoumpo has now scored at least 40 points in the Bucks’ last three games as well.

The only people to average 47.6 points and 17.3 rebounds over a 50-year period are Bob McAdoo and Moses Malone. Both his average of 32.1 points and 11.8 rebounds per season are the third-best in the league. Doncic and Joel Embiid are the only ones scoring more.