Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo feeling grateful that he's healthy for the postseason this time around

MILWAUKEE (AP) — As he discusses his excitement about finally being healthy for the start of a postseason run, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo compares himself to a certain action movie star.

“I love playing in, how can I say, pressure, stressful situations,” Antetokounmpo said this week as the Bucks prepare to open the playoffs Saturday at Indiana. “I’m like Tom Cruise. Have you ever seen the movies, the Tom Cruise movies that he does all the stunts? I think he gets an adrenaline rush. I love being there again.”

After missing all of Milwaukee’s postseason run last year and part of it the year before — with his absence leading to consecutive first-round exits — Antetokounmpo is back to lead the Bucks as he pursues his second career title.

If it’s not quite a mission impossible, it certainly seems improbable.

The Bucks are expected to open the playoffs without seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard, who has been out for the last month with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. The Bucks are seeded fifth in the Eastern Conference, their lowest playoff position since 2018. BetMGM Sportsbook gives the Bucks only a 37% chance of even getting past their first-round series with the fourth-seeded Pacers.

Yet the Bucks believe they can compete with anyone as long as Antetokounmpo is available. They remember how much the two-time MVP's absence was felt last year in their 4-2 series loss to Indiana.

“Let’s be honest,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “Take the best player off of every team and it hurts them. Take one of the best players of our generation off your team, it’s going to crush you. It’s just nice having him on the floor.”

Antetokounmpo, 30, missed last year’s Indiana series after straining his left calf in the 79th game of the regular season. A year earlier, he bruised his lower back in the first quarter of Milwaukee’s opening playoff game against Miami and didn’t return to action until Game 4 of a series the top-seeded Bucks eventually lost 4-1.

At the end of last season, Antetokounmpo said he’d have to ponder changing his offseason program or make other adaptations to assure he’d stay healthy for the playoffs. He now enters the playoffs in peak form after leading Milwaukee to an eight-game winning streak to close the regular season.

“I made a lot of adjustments — that I’ll keep private — but luck definitely plays a role, too,” Antetokounmpo said. “You can be unlucky. Going down three games, or six games, I don’t even remember, before the playoffs last year, that’s being unlucky. But yeah, I think we made a lot of adjustments, me and my team, and I’m here today, so I’m happy.”

The last time Antetokounmpo played in an entire playoff series, he had 33.9 points, 14.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game in the Bucks’ 4-3 Eastern Conference semifinal loss to Boston in 2022. He became the first player in NBA history to collect 200 points, 100 rebounds and 50 assists in a single playoff series.

A year before that, Antetokounmpo missed the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals with a hyperextended left knee but came back to earn NBA Finals MVP honors and score 50 points in a title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Now he’s back and leading a new-look Bucks roster.

Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton are the only players remaining from Milwaukee’s 2021 championship team. Kyle Kuzma, acquired at the trade deadline, was on the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020 championship team but last made the playoffs in 2021. Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins, whose roles expanded due to Lilllard's health issues, have never played in a postseason game.

Lillard's absence has resulted in more ball-handling responsibilities for Antetokounmpo, who has been playing particularly well even by his lofty standards.

The 6-11 forward ended the regular season ranked second in scoring (30.4), sixth in rebounding (11.9) and 13th in assists (6.5). Antetokounmpo is the only player ever to average 30 points while shooting at least 60% from the floor, and he’s done that each of the last two seasons.

In the six games he’s played this month, Antetokounmpo has averaged 31.8 points, 12 rebounds and 11.8 assists while recording four triple-doubles.

“During this period where Dame has been out, he’s been seeing consistent double teams, so he’s just continued to evolve as a great player,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s mixing in the assist, the laser passes, the skip passes cross-court which are very difficult to deal with when you’re double-teaming him, and his shooting has gotten better and better.”

Now he gets a chance to try carrying that over to the postseason, a stage he missed dearly last year.

“Watching the game on the bench is not fun,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s not fun. Maybe in 20 years, I can put on a polo or a suit — I don’t know what the coaches wear — and watch it from the bench. But now I’m just happy that I’m out there and I’m in the heat of the battle and I’m able to get my hands dirty and help my team win.”

AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed to this report.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo reacts to a call during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives to the basket against New Orleans Pelicans' Jamal Cain, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo drives to the basket against Minnesota Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, left, talk with forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) dunks during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) reacts after Kevin Porter Jr. scored during overtime in an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)