Giannis Antetokounmpo maximized every second of that chance to communicate by immediately getting his hands on a whiteboard and dry erase marker to point something out to his teammates and coaches. Obviously this is fairly standard fare as players are part of the active conversation as it comes to diagraming plays but the purpose with with Antetokounmpo took possession of that thing bordered on elite.

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks talks with head ... [+] coach Doc Rivers in the first quarter of the championship game of the Emirates NBA Cup against the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena on December 17,

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points, pulled down a season-high 19 rebounds and dished out seven assists as Milwaukee beat Denver 121-112 on Thursday night.

The Milwaukee Bucks are trying very hard to get the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. That would give them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They have been chasing the Pacers for that spot for a while. After the Pacers lost on Friday night, the Bucks were able to jump them in a tiebreaker for that fourth spot.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led six Milwaukee scorers in double-figure scoring with 29 points and the Bucks cruised to a 132-117 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.