Giannis Antetokounmpo mixes ‘vintage’ with new and improved skills to keep Bucks

In the first half of Wednesday’s game against the Nets, the Bucks played aimlessly on the offensive end and struggled to put points on the board. They scored just 43 points on 17-of-49 shooting, including just 4-of-22 from behind the 3-point line.

“We were just too passive,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said, who scored nine points (3-of-10 shooting) in the first half. “We were passing the ball too much.”

Trailing by 11 at halftime, the Bucks in the second half became considerably more decisive, and that aggressiveness started with their two-time NBA MVP.

In 19 second-half minutes, Antetokounmpo put up 34 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 shooting performance in the fourth quarter, to get to 43 points, 14 rebounds and five assists on the night and lead the Bucks to a 110-99 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. At 3-0, the Bucks are the NBA’s only undefeated team.

“For me personally, I just gotta play within my strengths,” Antetokounmpo said. “I just believe that I’ve been working a lot over these few years and over the summer, and I’m just so anxious to prove to myself that I can do what I’ve been working and sometimes I think I play not in my strength as much.

“But I kind of scratched that, and I think in the second half I just (said), ‘OK, I’m just gonna be myself and be OK with it.’ I just tried to drive as much as I can, find my teammates and get into the paint, get to the free-throw line and just live there.”

Before the season, Antetokounmpo revealed to The Athletic that he wanted to try to start implementing the different skills he has worked to perfect over the last few seasons, including finding ways to succeed on the offensive end without taking such a massive physical toll on his body on a nightly basis. That would mean using his jump shot and his post game more often, as well as trying to get to the free-throw line by selling contact rather than playing through bumps on the offensive end. In the first half of Wednesday’s game, he found that those thoughts left him indecisive.

“Playing in Europe over the summer, like you don’t have much time,” Antetokounmpo said, comparing his time with the Greek national team to Wednesday’s game. “You don’t have time to think, like you might have one shot. What the defense is giving you, you just gotta take it. I feel like in the NBA, you’ve got so much space and sometimes you fall into the trap; there’s so many things you can do, and you want to do everything at once.”

In the second half, Antetokounmpo simplified things and made up his mind early in possessions. He attacked and put together a 40-point performance in a second straight game.

“That’s vintage Giannis,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Tonight, that second half was, he did everything. He was phenomenal. I think we had a really poor second quarter, and he came out with a force and a determination to put us in the right place. We really, I think, offensively needed it from him…