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Giannis Antetokounmpo has a habit of turning games into declarations. Tuesday night was no different. After a block on one end and a violent dunk on the other, the NBC cameras caught the two-time MVP shouting. The Bucks won 121-111, but the actual noise came from those four words that echoed through Fiserv Forum and right into every Knicks fan’s feed. It wasn’t the first time Giannis made headlines against New York, but this time, they felt louder than ever. “THIS IS MY CITY!” Giannis Antetokounmpo declared after forcing the Knicks to call a timeout. A line that instantly sent Madison Square Garden Twitter into meltdown as ESPN’s Shams Charania disclosed, “The Knicks have had an eye on Antetokounmpo for the past couple of years under president Leon Rose,” They wanted him this summer. They called, they asked, they pitched per Charania, stating: “The Bucks picked up the Knicks’ call on Antetokounmpo, and the sides engaged in conversations for a window of time in August, league sources said, but the teams never got traction on a deal.” But everyone knows how this league works. Superstars don’t leave overnight. And Giannis, two years from free agency and one year from a decision Milwaukee can’t afford to mishandle, might have just watered it. He backed it all up with 37 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists on 72.7% shooting in a 121-111 win over those same Knicks. Giannis made it look effortless, playing the kind of basketball that makes executives in Manhattan wonder what it would look like under the Garden lights. Doc Rivers, though, didn’t want to hear any of it. “No, I think you guys [in New York] had a lot of drama. We had none. That’s actual factual,” Rivers said before tipoff. The Bucks head coach has spent weeks trying to shut down speculation about his star’s future. Asked again if the rumors were a distraction, Rivers snapped.
