You can’t help but be impressed with the Milwaukee Bucks’ resilience after watching them take down the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night. The Bucks looked dead in the water after being down by as much as 26 points against a struggling Portland side, only for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. to mount a masterful comeback late in the game.

It was a great victory for the Bucks, demonstrating to the basketball world and, maybe more significantly, to themselves that they are resilient in the face of difficulty.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Message for Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis was an absolute beast against Portland. The Bucks needed him to be at his very best in their furious comeback, and that’s exactly what the former back-to-back MVP delivered with his clutch play down the stretch.

As much as he is delighted with the victory, however, Giannis could not help but point out the important lesson his team has to take away from yet another close call:

“Now what I know is that we were able to do something like this,” said Antetokounmpo, via Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “So now you got to keep yourself accountable.

“To not be down 26. To be able to make the other team call the first time out. To come out in the first five minutes and assert yourself to the game. Now I know as a team we can do that.”

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As always, Giannis isn’t pointing any fingers. If anything, he’s looking at himself in the mirror first and foremost as he hopes to learn from his mistakes during Sunday’s near blowout:

“And I call myself, and the team, teammates, coaches, everybody to a high standard,” Giannis said. “… next time, we should start right away. But sometimes it is not going to go our way. I understand that.”

The next opportunity presents itself on Tuesday night in the form of an exciting game versus the Miami Heat. With all due respect to Portland, the Heat are unquestionably a more formidable opponent. The Bucks simply can’t afford to start slow against the defending Eastern Conference champs.