“Still Woke Up in a 5 Star Hotel”: Giannis Antetokounmpo Refuses to Use New Orleans Snowstorm Fiasco As an Excuse

The Bucks landed in Milwaukee less than three hours before tip-off last night. A historic snowstorm in New Orleans led to the postponement of their Wednesday night matchup against the Pelicans and left Giannis Antetokounmpo & Co. stranded in the Big Easy with limited flight connections.

However, with a one-hour delay to their home game against the Miami Heat, the team recovered their strength and pulled off a dominant win at Fiserv Forum. The Greek Freak’s tenacity was on full display during the post-game presser as he downplayed his team’s long road back to Milwaukee.

“This is not the toughest conditions that I’ve played basketball [in],” the two-time NBA MVP said. “At the end of the day, we still woke up in a five-star hotel, had breakfast, sit down as a team, talked as a team while we were waiting for the bus… And we went to our plane, charter plane, private plane, everybody has their own seat.”

It’s important to remember here that Giannis didn’t experience any of these luxuries until he broke out as a superstar in the NBA. This is the same player who ran to the arena for a game after sending all of his money to his family in Athens.

He is certainly not one to take this lifestyle for granted and his statement about the Bucks’ journey amidst a snowstorm certainly reflects that attitude.

“For me, those conditions are not that bad. I’ve been in way, way worse conditions in my life, but if you want to call this adversity, I’m very happy and proud of how the team responded,” Antetokounmpo added.

Of course, with several staff members working around the clock to plan their safe travels, the Bucks players weren’t under too much duress. But the snowstorm in New Orleans was no ordinary situation either.

It was the first time in a century that the Big Easy had been carpeted with over ten inches of snow. The city was hardly prepared for such weather conditions and along with the NBA game, the schools, public transport and airport were all shut down due to the weather emergency.

Milwaukee’s players were able to make a relatively comfortable journey out of town but they still had only a few hours between their cross-country flight and home game. Their 29-point win under those circumstances put the team’s resilience on full display.

And of course, that mentality begins with their leaders Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. The veteran point guard echoed much of the same sentiment as Giannis after the game, expressing how important it was to manage the roster’s emotions while they were stranded in a snowstorm.

“As a leader of a team, you gotta let the team know off the rip we’re not doing that. We’re not having excuses. I don’t care about the flight. I don’t care we’ve been in the hotel. You gotta take that away from the team as a leader,” Dame added.

Due to the weather forecast, the Bucks had actually flown into New Orleans on Monday and were forced to remain in their hotel for three days as the conditions continued to worsen. Thankfully, Lillard and Antetokounmpo did their jobs as leaders and calmed the team’s nerves.

They also executed their roles to perfection on the hardwood with Dame tallying 29 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds and Giannis scoring 25 points to go with 12 boards and 3 blocks. Thanks to those performances, the Bucks are now on a five-game win streak and they’ll look to make it six in Los Angeles on Saturday night when they take on the Clippers.