The best performances by a Milwaukee Bucks player at the all-star game (besides Giannis winning MVP)
It's hard to top hitting all 16 shots and winning all-star game MVP, which Giannis Antetokounmpo managed to do in 2021. You won't find a better performance by a Milwaukee Bucks player in the annual all-star showcase, which is set for the latest iteration in Indianapolis over the weekend.
Antetokounmpo's 25.14 points per all-star game ranks as the highest average point total in all-star game history among players who have played at least three games, narrowly edging Kevin Durant.
It bears mentioning, though, that a banged-up Antetokounmpo scored only two points in 20 seconds of the 2023 all-star game. He has made seven appearances overall.
He'll make an eighth when he and Damian Lillard will start for the Eastern Conference on Sunday in a return to the traditional East vs. West format.
Here are the other top nine performances from a Bucks player in an all-star game after Antetokounmpo's brilliant 2021 showing.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019)
You can see the scenario where Antetokounmpo could have been all-star game MVP here, too … if his team had won the game. But Team Giannis suffered a 178-164 defeat, and the award went to Durant instead. Giannis finished with 37 points on 17-of-23 shooting, easily leading all scorers in the game. He also finished with 11 rebounds and five assists. It wasn't a bad showing for Khris Middleton, either; he had 20 points with 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range, plus five rebounds and four assists.
Did we mention Antetokounmpo also had an otherworldly dunk off a bounce-pass assist from Steph Curry?
Giannis Antetokounmpo (2022)
The Greek Freak dropped 30 points on 15-of-21 shooting, plus 12 rebounds and six assists as his team won, 163-160. Antetokounmpo also showed his competitive side never rests, even for good friends and teammates, when he blocked a shot from Middleton.
Sidney Moncrief (1983)
In the second of his five all-star games, Moncrief scored 20 points off the bench, making eight of 14 shots, with five rebounds, four assists and six steals as the East landed a 132-123 win. Moncrief would go on to win the league's first defensive player of the year award that season, but his scoring stood out in this game, where he scored eight of the East's 10 points after the West had pulled to within six points in the final five minutes.
For one score, Moncrief chased his own rebound and got credit for the basket when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's attempt to tap the rebound bounced off Moncrief's head and into the hoop. Coach Billy Cunningham said it was "Moncrief's impersonation of Pelé."
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971)
In the year the Bucks won the championship, Abdul-Jabbar had his best all-star game performance while a member of the Bucks, finishing with 19 points and 14 rebounds and hitting eight of 16 shots. His West beat the East, 108-107, and Lenny Wilkens won MVP, but votes for the honor were collected before Abdul-Jabbar closed the game on a huge run. He scored his team's final seven points to tip the scales, including a three-point play that broke a 105-105 tie with 48 seconds to play. Oscar Robertson's free throw was the only other point the West scored in the final 3½ minutes. Abdul-Jabbar also stunned the crowd with a behind-the-back dribble in the third quarter. The West was coached by Bucks coach Larry Costello.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (2017)
He scored 30 points to lead the Eastern Conference on 14-of-17 shooting, with six rebounds and three steals, though the West won and Anthony Davis (who had an all-star record 52 points) was the easy choice for MVP. It was the first all-star game for Antetokounmpo, though he had competed in the dunk contest in 2015.
Giannis also had some fun dunking over Steph Curry a couple times in this game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (2020)
Ho-hum, Antetokounmpo had 25 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead his team, though Team Giannis took a 157-155 loss. The game was an emotional one, played in the weeks after Kobe Bryant's death, and Team LeBron won on a Davis free throw to hit the necessary score prescribed by the Elam Ending.
Vin Baker (1997)
After he was limited to eight combined points over the previous two all-star games, Baker's third all-star game was a quality showing, when he hit eight of 12 shots and finished with a double-double (19 points and 12 rebounds) in 24 minutes, and the East beat the West, 132-120.
Ray Allen (2001)
The highlight was Allen winning the three-point competition, the only Bucks player to ever achieve that feat. The game itself wasn't as spectacular for Allen, who hit just one of seven from three-point range and finished with 15 points, though he was still the third-leading scorer on the team. Glenn Robinson had eight points that year.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970)
The rookie was a big-ticket item in the NBA, and he finished with a double-double in his first all-star game (10 points, 11 rebounds, plus four assists on 4-of-8 shooting). His East team won, 142-135.
Bonus: Bob Dandridge (1976)
It's not as though Dandridge did anything special for the West (5-for-10 shooting, six rebounds, 10 points), but there was a lot of intrigue in the starting five, which featured two Bucks players (Dandridge and Brian Winters) and a former Bucks player (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) for whom Winters had been traded. That's not to mention reserve Fred Brown of Seattle (14 points), a Milwaukee native in his first all-star game. Tiny Archibald — a future Buck — was also in the starting five. Rick Barry, the last starter, never played for the Bucks, but his son Jon later did, from 1992 to 1995.
More: Here's a look at Wisconsinites who played in the NBA All-Star Game
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The best performances by a Bucks player in the all-star game
