Giannis Antetokounmpo powered the Milwaukee Bucks to a thrilling 122-121 win over the Charlotte Hornets at Fiserv Forum on Friday. Antetokounmpo made the game-winning alley-oop dunk in this one with under five seconds remaining thanks to a perfectly designed play.
Kevin Porter Jr. was the one who threw that lob to Antetokounmpo, and he was asked postgame about Bucks head coach Doc Rivers drawing up that play. Porter revealed that it wasn’t Rivers’ play, but the two-time MVP’s.
“Doc was drawing something up, and Giannis had a feeling they were switching a lot,” Porter said. “So he gave us that play, basically, and we executed it. Great pace. It was just a two-man, and I was just reading Miles [Bridges]. If he came up, I was going to throw the lob. If he didn’t, then I was going to try to finish myself. He came up, and Giannis got behind him.”
You could actually very clearly see Antetokounmpo drawing up the play during the timeout.
Giannis Antetokounmpo literally draws up alley-oop from KPJ to him, and they pull it off to win the game pic.twitter.com/EvtMfATT8K
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) January 3, 2026
We tend to only focus on Antetokounmpo’s athleticism when we talk about him, but this was a fine example of his basketball IQ. The 31-year-old was asked about the play postgame and stated he knew what the Hornets were going to do.
“I just read the play,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think they were switching one through five the whole game, and I’ve been in this situation before. I think like a month and a half ago, when I was in the elbow playing iso for the game against Miles Bridges, and I shot a shot. And then when I shot it, I looked at my left, and there was a guy in the corner. And I thought to myself, why I didn’t go DHO and just let the play develop.
“Long story short, that game we won in overtime,” Antetokounmpo stated. “And I knew that I’m going to get the ball in the elbow, and I knew that there’s going to be a single side just me and Scoot. I know Scoot loves to go left. So, I told him before the play, I said, ‘Hey, you can just go down and come right back and get the ball and just throw it to the rim. I’ll be wide open.’ And he just did what I told him.
“And I was wide open in the rim because I knew they going to switch it,” Antetokounmpo continued. “It would be very hard for him to get under because I knew that I wouldn’t set the pick and roll. I’m just going to try to slip it and try to go straight to the rim, and it’s going to be very, very hard because the guy who was guarding Scoot was like 6’4″-6’5″. So it’s hard in those situation to defend at the rim.”
Antetokounmpo had airballed a potential game-winner in regulation against the Hornets on Nov. 14, 2025. The nine-time All-Star did not want a repeat of that with another isolation play and opted for the dribble handoff instead.
Antetokounmpo finished the night with 30 points (11-18 FG), 10 rebounds, five assists, and one steal. The Bucks are now 3-1 since he returned from an eight-game absence due to a calf strain and have improved to 15-20.
We’ll see Antetokounmpo in action next when the Bucks take on the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Sunday at 9 PM ET.
