Giannis boos fans back as Bucks drubbed at home

MILWAUKEE -- With the Milwaukee Bucks down by more than 30 points heading into halftime of Tuesday night's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the fans at Fiserv Forum booed the team as it exited the court.

So, after Giannis Antetokounmpo scored the first basket of the third quarter, a layup over Wolves forward Julius Randle followed by a foul that knocked Antetokounmpo to the court, the Bucks' two-time MVP responded in kind: gesturing with two thumbs-down and booing the Milwaukee crowd as he sat on the court underneath the basket.

Antetokounmpo said after the 139-106 loss that it was the first time he can remember being booed at his home arena.

"Whenever I get booed, I boo back," Antetokounmpo said after scoring 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

The double thumbs-down gesture is the same one Antetokounmpo has responded with to fans several times on the road this season, most notably after his winning shot against the Pacers in Indiana in October and most recently after his windmill dunk put an exclamation point on a win against the Chicago Bulls.

Even though Tuesday's game was played in Milwaukee, Antetokounmpo made it clear how he would respond to such jeers.

"It doesn't matter," Antetokounmpo said about being at home. "I play basketball for my teammates. I play basketball for myself and my family. When people don't believe in me, I don't tend to be with them. I tend to do what I'm here to do, what I'm good at. ... It won't change home or away. But yeah, I've never been a part of something like that before and I don't think it's fair. I don't. But everybody has their opinion to do what they want to do.

"I'm not going to tell them what to do and how they should act when we don't play hard. Or when we lose games, or when we're not where we're supposed to be. I don't think anybody has the right to tell me how I should act on [a] basketball court after I've been here 13 years. And I'm basically the all-time leader in everything."

Antetokounmpo's frustrations came after a disappointing loss by Milwaukee, which has now dropped back-to-back games to fall to 17-23 on the season.

The Bucks lost to a Wolves team playing without Rudy Gobert, who was serving a one-game suspension because of the number of flagrant fouls he has committed this season, and Anthony Edwards, who sat out for injury management on his right foot.

But Minnesota blitzed Milwaukee from the opening tip. The Wolves never trailed and led by as many as 41 points and the Bucks starters were out of the game early in the fourth quarter.

"Obviously you're frustrated," Antetokounmpo said. "I think we didn't play hard. I think we didn't do the right things. We didn't play as a team. It's not much you can take away from this game. You just got to kind of forget about it. Take all the things that you did new well, try to improve on it and go to the next one. But the effort was low, you cannot have that. You cannot have that."

This was Milwaukee's first game back after a four-game, eight-day West Coast trip in four different cities. The Bucks are about to depart for another two-game trip Wednesday. So, coach Doc Rivers chalked up Tuesday's blowout to a tired team coming off a long trip.

"Just beat us off the dribble all night," Rivers said. "I honestly thought we were playing with dead legs. I knew this was going to be a difficult game. ... But no excuses. We just didn't have it. We were flat."

But Antetokounmpo said tired legs can't be an excuse for the way the team played Tuesday night.

"I don't think it's dead legs," he said. "Were we tired? Yeah, a little bit. We had a day off yesterday. I don't see the reason.

"It's not dead legs. I'm never going to say I didn't have legs. I'm going to say that I could do things better. My effort wasn't there. Maybe I wasn't as focused as I should. And then after that, when I look at myself, I look at overall the team, what we can do better, but I don't think it's dead legs. That cannot be an excuse."