NEW YORK (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo said he stole a triple-double. The NBA took it back.
The league adjusted the statistics from the Milwaukee-Washington game Sunday night and erased Antetokounmpo's final rebound, the one that would have given him a triple-double.
He grabbed a defensive rebound with about nine seconds left, knowing that left him one rebound short of 10. He hustled the ball downcourt, got near the rim the Bucks were shooting at, hesitated for a moment before throwing the ball intentionally into the bottom of the rim and catching it.
“Kind of stole one,” Antetokounmpo acknowledged Sunday night.
On-site statisticians credited him with a missed shot and a 10th rebound from that play. The NBA reviews all stats from each game and regularly makes changes to correct errors or omissions, and it removed the last rebound Monday.
Milwaukee won 117-111. Antetokounmpo finished, officially, with 23 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. The stat adjustment dropped his rebound average from 11.94 per game to 11.92 — but his shooting percentage, with the missed “shot” also erased, improved from .538 to .539.
