“We Gotta Beat Some Kids”: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Pep Talk for Damian Lillard at All-Star Game Halftime

Team Giannis is not taking ‘L’ for an answer tonight. Or at least, it seems. During the All-Star halftime, he was seen giving a pep talk to Damian Lillard while being mic’d up. The Eastern vs Western Conference 73rd All-Star Game is in full swing with the East holding a heavy lead at 160-140 (at the time of writing).

It must be that the ‘Greek Freak’ wanted to keep the momentum going that he said to Dame, “Think like this, We’re the oldest ones here… we gotta beat some kids!” The pair of them are, in fact, the oldest players in the East. And it looks like Dame is not going to fall into Giannis’ obvious prank play, as he just moves away to Antetokounmpo’s “Come on, man.”

It looks like all the strategizing seems to have paid off as the East took off and left the West biting the dust. The Lillard-led team defeated LeBron and Co. 211-186. In the process made history by being the first team to cross the 200 mark in an NBA All-Star Game!

Dame was also named the All-Star MVP, finishing with 39 points and 11 3-pointers. Team cap, Giannis finished with 23 points, deciding to take a backseat to let the “kids” in his team take point. But the “Freak” wouldn’t leave the night without making a statement of some kind. And tonight it was seven highlight power dunks for the win.

The Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was behind Dame, providing MVP contention. Haliburton finished with 32 points, six assists, and seven rebounds as he set the stage with his first five three-pointers to get the momentum started. Maybe he did pay attention to Shaq’s “advice” ahead of the tip-off.

Shaq tries to get in Haliburton’s head ahead of the All-Star tip-off

Before the 73rd All-Star Game started, Tyrese had joined the Inside the NBA team. Shaquille O’Neal, for his part, had a few words of advice to impart to the young guard. The ‘Big Diesel’ told the Oshkosh native to not pass the ball. He stressed that part again, making sure the point got across.

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He further reminded him that he was playing in front of his home crowd and hence, to focus on being the MVP. Haliburton laughingly reminded Shaq that passing was what he was excellent at. But the 7-foot big man wasn’t ready to listen to any excuses.

Anyway, he can rest easy knowing that Tyrese did make sure to put his best foot forward tonight.

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