Giannis Antetokounmpo scores career-high 55 points in Milwaukee Bucks’

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday returned to the lineup for the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum, and the pair lifted the Bucks to a 123-113 victory over the Washington Wizards. The Bucks improved to 24-13 in snapping the Wizards’ (17-22) five-game winning streak.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

Giannis sets career high with 55 points

The Bucks’ superstar didn’t make history Tuesday night in that his streak of 40-point, 20-rebound, 5-assist games ended at two (only Elgin Baylor ever had more than that) so in that context, a career-high 55-point effort to go with 10 rebounds and 7 assists was merely… predictably dominant.

He opened 2023 much the same way he closed 2022, which saw him average 33.1 points, 12.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists in December. Antetokounmpo was aggressive early and throughout against the Wizards, who had nothing for him defensively.

Sports newsletter: Get the latest news and analysis in your inbox

Washington head coach Wes Unseld Jr. called Antetokounmpo a handful to deal with on the defensive end, but the Bucks star proved to be more than that. He met very little resistance to the rim once in the open court…or setting up in the half court…or after establishing position in the post.

Antetokounmpo entered the game as the league’s third-leading scorer at 32.1 points per game – far and away a career-high – but even he’s made even that number looked pedestrian. For instance, he had 36 by the end of the third quarter.

When he reached the 40-point threshold on a basket with 8:53 to go in regulation, he set a career-best and tied a franchise mark (Flynn Robinson in 1969 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972) by doing it for the third straight game.

Antetokounmpo also hit that number five times in his last seven games.

He reached 50 points with a three-point play with 3 minutes, 27 seconds to go in regulation to put the Bucks up 116-104, a lead…