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)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan police officer who killed a man with a shot to the back of the head testified in his own defense Friday, telling jurors at his second-degree murder trial that he was “running on fumes” and fearing for his life after losing his Taser during an intense fight.

“I believed that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home,” said Christopher Schurr, who fired the single fatal shot as he pinned Patrick Lyoya facedown on the ground in an effort to subdue him.

Schurr, 34, wiped his eyes and sniffed as video from that day was played for the jurors. His testimony was his first public explanation of what happened following a routine traffic stop on a cold, rainy spring morning in Grand Rapids in 2022.

The shooting stunned the public after the Grand Rapids police chief released video of the killing, which was recorded by a man who was accompanying Lyoya that day. There also was police car video and images from Schurr's body camera.

Schurr told the jury that it was "important to get my side of the story out.”

Jurors must decide whether Schurr, who was patrolling alone, could have reasonably feared that he could suffer great bodily harm or be killed after Lyoya got control of his Taser, a weapon that fires electrically charged probes to temporarily subdue an aggressor.

Lyoya, a Black man, failed to produce a driver’s license after Schurr pulled him over for driving a car with a mismatched license plate. Then he ran, and the officer chased and tackled him. As they physically struggled to exhaustion for more than two minutes, Schurr was heard desperately asking for officers to rush to the scene.

“I’m running on fumes,” he explained to the jury.

Video shows the confrontation finally ended when Schurr fired into Lyoya’s head after repeatedly demanding that Lyoya stop resisting and give up the Taser, which the officer had lost control of in the fight.

It’s not known why Lyoya was trying to flee. Records show his driver’s license was revoked at the time and there was an arrest warrant for him in a domestic violence case, though Schurr didn’t know it. An autopsy revealed his blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for driving, according to testimony.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Chris Becker tried to highlight inconsistencies between Schurr's testimony and his statements to investigators three years ago, particularly his physical condition at the time.

Becker also noted that the officer was on top of Lyoya before the fatal shot, suggesting that he had an advantage.

"He never said he was going to kill you, right? Never said he was going to hit you. Never said he was going to kick your butt or do anything bad to you,” the prosecutor said.

Schurr earlier testified that he had a Taser used on him during police training and knew it could cause "excruciating pain.”

“I shot him because I believed he was going to use it on me,” Schurr told Becker. “He started to turn up towards me. I felt if I didn't respond at that time, I wouldn't be here.”

“Sure, but he’s not here, is he?” Becker shot back, referring to Lyoya's death.

“No, he’s not,” Schurr replied.

Outside the courthouse Friday, a crowd waved “thin blue line” flags in support of Schurr while standing along a busy downtown street. Inside, his wife sat in a front row of the courtroom while Lyoya's parents, who brought their family to the U.S. from Congo in 2014, sat in a front row on the opposite side.

The jury late in the day also heard testimony from Lewis “Von” Kliem, a lawyer and former officer who analyzes instances of force across the U.S. He said Schurr’s decision to shoot Lyoya can be seen as reasonable “as tragic as it is.”

“What is particularly relevant is that Mr. Lyoya did not just take the (Taser) and throw it away. He took the weapon, transitioned hands and held it in a position capable of being utilized,” said Kliem, a defense witness.

Schurr was fired by city officials at the recommendation of police Chief Eric Winstrom after he was charged in 2022. At the time, Winstrom said his recommendation was based on video of the encounter, the prosecutor’s review of a state police investigation and Schurr’s interview with internal investigators.

The trial has mostly been a battle of experts.

Use-of-force experts testifying for the prosecutor said deadly force was not necessary to end the conflict. But several senior Grand Rapids officers, summoned by defense lawyers, said Schurr was at great risk when Lyoya got ahold of the Taser.

White reported from Detroit.

FILE - Patrick Lyoya's mother, Dorcas Lyoya, waits for the Michigan Court of Appeals hearing in the case against Christopher Schurr to begin in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (Cory Morse/MLive.com/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

Michigan State Police bicycle unit joins Grand Rapids Police outside the Kent County Courthouse where the first day of trial began for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged in the 2022 killing of a Black motorist, Patrick Lyoya, in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, April 28, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

A video image provided by WOOD-TV of former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr taken by Jessica Beaudry, crime scene technician with Grand Rapids Police Department, is displayed on the first day of Schurr's trial, who is charged in the 2022 killing of a Black motorist, Patrick Lyoya, at the Kent County Courthouse, Monday, April 28, 2025, Grand Rapids, Mich. (WOOD-TV/Pool Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

A video image provided by WOOD-TV shows former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr being tased during his police academy training, played for the jury during testimony in the first day of Schurr's murder trial for the 2022 killing of a Black motorist, Patrick Lyoya, at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, April 28, 2025. (WOOD-TV/Pool Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

The family of Patrick Lyoya and Kent County commissioner Robert Womack, right, arrive outside the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, April 28, 2025. (Chris duMond/Detroit News via AP)

In this image taken from video from WOOD-TV, Kent County Prosecutor shows Aaron Tubergen, a detective sergeant with the Michigan State Police, the Taser of former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged in the 2022 killing of a Black motorist, Patrick Lyoya, as he testifies during the first day of Schurr's murder trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, April 28, 2025. (WOOD-TV, Pool Photo/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Members of the media watch as dash cam footage from former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr patrol vehicle is played for the jury during Schurr's murder trial in the 2022 killing of a Black motorist, Patrick Lyoya, at Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, April 28, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker shows Bryan Chiles, senior manager of Axon Forensics, the Taser7 used by former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr on Patrick Lyoya during the second day of trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (WOOD-TV via AP, Pool)

Body worn camera footage showing former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr with a Taser7 and Patrick Lyoya is shown during the third day at the Kent County Courthouse with his wife Brandey in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr sits in court during the second day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Schurr is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. (WOOD-TV via AP, Pool)