HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- For three quarters, the Milwaukee Bucks defended Rockets rookie center Alperen Sengun with DeMarcus Cousins and Bobby Portis. The results were disastrous.
The Rockets scored 43 points in the 13 minutes Sengun was on the floor through the first three quarters of Friday's game, with Sengun scoring 15 of those points on 6-of-8 shooting, but when the fourth quarter started, Milwaukee switched things up.
When Sengun went to the left block on the quarter’s opening possession Giannis Antetokounmpo was waiting for him.
“That’s a first team, all defensive, defensive player of the year guy, that our 19-year-old Rookie had to play against,” Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said following the Rockets 123-114 loss to the Bucks on Friday night. “They made an adjustment for him to guard (Sengun), so that’s a sign of respect to me.”
After managing seven points in seven first quarter possessions, the Rockets scored 1.91 points per possession in the seven minutes he was on the floor in the second quarter, and 1.85 points per possession in the three minutes he played in the third, but in the fourth, the Rockets scored just three points on seven possessions before Silas summoned Christian Wood off the bench.
“When they put Giannis on him, Al-P wasn’t able to get to his spot in the post and Giannis tipped one away,” Silas said.
The one Antetokounmpo tipped away came on that opening possession. Sengun tried to back down the NBA’s 2020 Defensive Player of the Year, only to have him knock the ball away. Sengun did exact some revenge by drawing a foul on a second post up, though he missed both free throws.
“First attack, I lost the ball,” Sengun said through an interpreter. “Then I took a lesson from that attack and the second one I played I believe that I played better against him.”
Antetokounmpo, who like Sengun entered the NBA at 19-years old after getting drafted in the middle of the first round, was impressed with the Rockets rookie.
“He's a great player. Takes his time, nothing can speed him up. Might be slow down there in the post, but he's effective. He's playing well, he's playing with a lot of energy. He's coming off the bench, gives energy to his teammates, rebounds the ball well, he's being aggressive, he's setting good screens. I think the sky's the limit for him."
Sengun said he grew up watching Antetokounmpo and he hoped he’d get to play against him on Friday, so Friday’s game felt like a major accomplishment in his young career.
“It’s a big experience for me.”