Getty Trayce Jackson-Davis #32 of the Golden State Warriors blocks a shot taken by Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated Draymond Green in the third quarter when the “Greek Freak” scored seven points in a 19-4 Milwaukee Bucks run to cut the Golden State Warriors‘ 21-point lead to just six with 5:33 left.
Rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis went in for Green and restored order for the Warriors for a dominant 125-90 rout on Wednesday, March 6, that snapped the streaking Bucks’ six-game winning streak.
“I told him thank you, you saved me because I was awful in the third quarter,” Green told reporters of the Warriors’ rookie big man. “He was blocking shots, rebounding. He was dunking the ball, good finishes, and he just brought the life back to us.
“Trayce came in and saved me for sure because I was awful but he saved the day for us.”
Trayce Jackson-Davis’s 3rd Quarter Impact
Jackson-Davis made his presence felt right in the first possession when he subbed Green out. He set a screen for Klay Thompson who found him rolling to the basket for an easy basket.
A minute later, he made the biggest impact that sent a strong message to the Bucks team.
Jackson-Davis swatted away Antetokounmpo’s shot not once, but twice.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS DENIES GIANNIS TWICE THEN THROWS IT DOWN 😱
(via @NBCSWarriors)
It did not stop there.
With the momentum shifting and his confidence growing, Jacks0n-Davis blocked Antetokounmpo for the third time and then slammed it home on the other.
Trayce Jackson-Davis blocks and jams it on Giannis Antetokounmpo in one sequence 💯
Antetokounmpo and the Bucks never recovered.
“You don’t see Giannis get blocked often,” Green said on how difficult what Jackson-Davis did. “Giannis is one of the best players in this league for a reason. There’s not many people that can block him at the rim and a couple of [Jackson-Davis’ blocks] were just straight up. It says a lot about his skill but also to not back down from that [challenge].”
While he was in awe of Antetokounmpo’s length and stature in the league, Jackson-Davis brushed it aside to focus on slowing him down.
“He’s a great player he’s a load to guard. Props to our defense we tried to contain him,” Jackson-Davis told reporters of Antetokounmpo. “I’ve never faced anyone like him having the length like that.”
Taking a Page From Blake Griffin
Jackson-Davis revealed that he watched Blake Griffin’s film to prepare for the Antetokoumnpo defensive assignment.
“The person that I’ve watched guard him in the past that has done a pretty successful job is Blake Griffin,” Jackson-Davis told reporters. “Just sitting back and kind of allowing [Antetotokounmpo] to come to you. And then watching that spin move that he likes to do. Obviously, just timing at the rim. I got the best of him with that.”
Jackson-Davis matched his career-high with four blocks that went with 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting, along with six rebounds and one steal. He held Antetokounmpo to 2 of 6 shooting when he was his defender, per NBA.com’s matchup tracker.
The Bucks superstar shot 6 of 9 against the rest of the Warriors.
Their bounced-back win from a 52-point blowout loss in Boston pushed the 33-28 Warriors within 2.5 games outside of the top six in the West.
They are an 8-point favorite at DraftKing against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, March 7, on the second night of a back-to-back schedule. Another win and a Dallas Mavericks loss to the Miami Heat will lift them to the seventh place in the West.