It was nothing but respect between NBA superstars Jayson Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo following the Boston Celtics' Game 7 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
After the final buzzer, Tatum and Antetokounmpo shared a special embrace to cap off the thrilling seven-game series. The two-time MVP spoke more about that moment during his postgame press conference.
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"It hurts. It kind of hurts not to win,"Â Antetokounmpo said. "But at the end of the day, the way my mom raised me, my dad raised me, I'm a good human being. I've got to wish Tatum and his team the best for them moving forward. I think they played great, was able to win the series and I wish the best of luck for him to continue playing great and leading his team to hopefully a championship.
"I think they're a great team, they have great chemistry and they have an opportunity to win one. So, I told him that, gave him my respect, he gave me his respect back, so that was it."
Both Tatum and Antetokounmpo both did all they could to propel their respective teams to the Eastern Conference Finals. Tatum averaged 27.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists for the series while Antetokounmpo averaged 33.9 points, 14.7 rebounds and 7.1 assists. Despite Antetokounmpo and the reigning champions' best efforts, it'll be Tatum and the C's meeting the Miami Heat in the penultimate round of the NBA playoffs.
Boston Celtics
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Heat is set for Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET. Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live on NBC Sports Boston.
For the full series schedule, go here.