Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo has been suspended one game without pay for headbutting Celtics forward Blake Griffin during Thursday’s 140-99 loss to Boston, the NBA announced Saturday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Antetokounmpo, older brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, was ejected and assessed with a Flagrant Foul 2 for the incident, which occurred with 1:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.
- The elder Antetokounmpo had just one point and one assist in the contest, while Griffin added four points and one assist.
- Antetokounmpo will serve the suspension Sunday when the Bucks host the 76ers.
- Milwaukee (55-22) is in a tight race with Boston (54-24) at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
What this means for the Bucks
The elder Antetokounmpo brother doesn’t play all that often. Thanasis has appeared in just 33 games and played only 138 minutes this season, so it won’t have much impact on the Bucks’ Sunday matchup against the third-place 76ers, but the Bucks and Celtics might see each other again in the postseason and this incident may stoke the fire for a postseason matchup. The Bucks and Celtics are on pace to be the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the East, so any rematch would have to come in the Eastern Conference Finals, but it would be a much-anticipated matchup considering they played each other in the second round last season.
This was also the second time this season that the Celtics had an incident with the Antetokounmpo brothers as Thanasis and Marcus Smart had a verbal confrontation when Jaylen Brown and Giannis Antetokounmpo had a brief physical altercation with a couple of minutes remaining in the Celtics’ 139-118 win over the Bucks on Christmas Day. — Nehm
Backstory
The headbutt occurred after a hard foul by Griffin, who was seen holding his right cheek and smiling after the contact. Teammate Jaylen Brown then handed Griffin a face mask as they laughed on the sidelines.
“I thought Blake handled it well,” Celtics coach Joe Mazulla said after Thursday’s game. “That’s not something we went over in training camp … I thought (Griffin) handled it really well, just kinda laughing it off, separating himself from it and just kinda being the bigger person.”
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
