Giannis Antetokounmpo shows why he's a leading MVP candidate in Christmas win

Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated the New York Knicks in his first Christmas showing, taking his MVP candidacy to the masses on national TV, and his Milwaukee Bucks followed suit in a 109-95 rout.

The Greek Freak scored 11 of his 30 points in the third quarter, and the Bucks built a 16-point lead by the end of the frame that they would not relinquish. Milwaukee missed 17 straight 3-pointers in the heart of the game, but it didn’t matter, not with Antetokounmpo owning the rim at both ends. The breadth of his superstar talent was on display with four minutes left in the third, when he pinned undrafted Knicks rookie Allonzo Trier at the height of his layup (or maybe just after it hit the glass) and found recently acquired guard George Hill on the break for his second assist of the night.

Playing like a man who understood and embraced the NBA’s Christmas stage, Antetokounmpo added 14 rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocks to his 30 points on 13-of-21 shooting in the first of what will likely be many games on the holiday. The Bucks (23-10) remained even with the noticeably absent-again-on-Christmas Toronto Raptors (25-10) in the loss column atop the East standings.

The Bucks also had not played on Christmas since 1977, and Giannis became Milwaukee’s first 30-point scorer on the holiday since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dropped 32 points on the Kansas City Kings in 1972.

Even Antetokounmpo’s mistakes proved positive on this day:

“It means a lot to me. I always dreamed of playing on Christmas Day since I came to the league,” Antetokounmpo said on the broadcast afterward. “I always watched the Christmas Day games. Just to have the opportunity with my teammates to represent the Milwaukee Bucks and the City of Milwaukee this Christmas Day, it means a lot to us. Thank God we got the win, so we’re happy about it.”

The Bucks, wearing the jersey version of ugly Christmas sweaters, went 32 minutes without committing a turnover, illustrating why newcomer Mike Budenholzer is a Coach of the Year candidate. Milwaukee’s marquis free-agent signing, Brook Lopez, added 20 points on 10 shots, also showing how far this team has come from the one that was bounced in the first round of the playoffs last season. Malcolm Brogdon (17 points), Thon Maker (12 points) and Eric Bledsoe (11 points) also reached double figures.

Knicks rookie Kevin Knox was the personification of the promise of this young Knicks core, scoring 11 of his team-high 21 points in the first half, helping New York keep it a 48-46 game at the break and give his home fans reason for holiday hope. Knox exceeded 15 points in an eighth straight game, becoming the first Knicks rookie to do so since Patrick Ewing in 1985, when he too achieved the feat on Christmas.

The Knicks (9-26) put five players in double figures, including Tim Hardaway Jr. (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Noah Vonleh (14 points, 15 rebounds), but their shooting inefficiency (36.5 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from distance) was the mark of a team with single-digit wins near the season’s midway point.

In the opening half, Hardaway demonstrated why some Knicks fans have come around on the massive four-year, $71 million contract he signed in the summer of 2017. The son of five-time All-Star Tim Hardaway, who was among the many celebrities in attendance at Madison Square Garden, Junior scored 12 first-half points, seemingly well on his way to his season average of 21 points per game.

In the second half, however, Hardaway showed why Knicks fans might prefer their team trade his contract for more assets from a contending team in need of scoring punch. He scored two points on 0-for-4 shooting after halftime. His tale-of-two-halves effort was the perfect summation of the Knicks’ frustrating Christmas Day.

“They were really tight,” Knicks coach David Fizdale told ESPN sideline reporter Tom Rinaldi during the game, “and I could see it in their faces. I could see it in the way they were taking shots. I just reminded them that it’s Christmas, and it’s not that big a deal. Just relax. It’s supposed to be a festive day.”

At least there’s reason for optimism about basketball in New York again, even if Antetokounmpo was the star of the show.

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Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

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