Giannis drops career-high 64 points, gets heated trying to retrieve game ball

It was a special night for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Greek Freak dropped a career-high 64 points as the Milwaukee Bucks downed the Indiana Pacers 140-126 to avenge last week's In-Season Tournament defeat.

Antetokounmpo also broke Michael Redd's single-game franchise record of 57 points. The Bucks superstar now has two of the three highest-scoring games in club history.

It was Antetokounmpo's third career 50-point game against the Pacers. He had 54 points in a narrow defeat last month.

Antetokounmpo shot 20-of-28 from the field and 24-of-32 from the charity stripe. He added 14 boards, four steals, three assists, and one block.

The 2021 Finals MVP joined Karl Malone and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to tally at least 60 points and 10 rebounds and shoot 70% from the field, according to StatMuse.

Earlier in the evening, Antetokounmpo cracked the league's top 100 all time in points scored.

However, not everyone cared for Antetokounmpo's record-setting display.

Shortly after Wednesday's contest, Antetokounmpo ran toward the Pacers' locker room in search of the game ball. The seven-time All-Star then returned to the court and got into a heated exchange with Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton.

Indiana bench boss Rick Carlisle confirmed postgame that the team had taken the game ball for rookie Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored his first career point.

"What happened after the game was unfortunate. There was a misunderstanding about the game ball," Carlisle said, per Bally Sports Indiana. "It was Oscar Tshiebwe's first official NBA point, so we always get the game ball.

"We were not thinking about Giannis' franchise record, so we grabbed the ball."

Carlisle added that Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan was elbowed by one of the Bucks' players during a "fracas" in the hallway between both sides.

"He certainly has a bruised rib, and who knows if it's anything more than that," Carlisle said. "Unfortunate situation. We don't need the official game ball.

"There's two game balls there. We could've taken the other one. But it didn't need to escalate to that."

However, Antetokounmpo wasn't entirely convinced that the Pacers gave him the correct ball.

"I have no idea, I'm not going to lie," he said. "I have no idea. I really don't know. I have a ball, but I don't know if it's the game ball. It doesn't feel like the game ball to me. It feels like a brand-new ball.

"I can tell. I played, what, 35 minutes today? I know how the game ball felt. ... But it's OK. I just continue. I actually don't even have the game ball from - which it hurts me - Game 6 in the (2022) NBA Finals. I don't have the game ball from that, either. ... But it's unfortunate, I've never seen this before."