Bulls Players Take Offense to Late-Game Giannis Windmill in Loss to Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo made his presence felt in his return to the lineup for the Bucks.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had Bulls players upset after a late-game windmill dunk with the game well in hand.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had Bulls players upset after a late-game windmill dunk with the game well in hand. / David Banks-Imagn Images
In this story:

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo made his return to the lineup on Saturday night against the Bulls for the first time since suffering a calf strain in a Dec. 3 win over the Pistons.

Antetokounmpo scored 29 points and added eight rebounds in his return, but it was his final two points in the 112-103 victory over Chicago that emerged as the postgame storyline.

With time winding down in regulation, the Bulls had waved the proverbial white flag, when Antetokounmpo got the ball across the midcourt line, and with nobody on the Bulls playing any defense, drove in for an uncontested windmill dunk.

Several Bulls players took offense to the windmill slam; Chicago's players clearly took it as a sign of disrespect in a game that was all but over.

Several players from both sidelines got into it after final whistle. Bulls guard Coby White explained his frustration in the locker room after the game.

"He shouldn't have dunked the ball," White said after the loss. "Just disrespectful to the game. I didn't even say much, just 'come on, bro, you're better than that.' And [the fight] kinda broke out."

White downplayed the postgame skirmish as "just an NBA scuffle" before reiterating why he had a problem with the dunk by Antetokounmpo.

"I just think y'all are up. Y'all won the game, the game's over with. Why do you gotta do that for? The game's over with. I think it's a respect thing toward the game, your opponent, the game in general. Like why would you do that?"

There's never any love lost between the two Eastern Conference rivals. Add Saturday night's antics by Antetokounmpo to the memory bank the next time these two teams square up.


More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed


Published
Mike McDaniel
MIKE MCDANIEL

Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.