Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo said he's "upset" he missed a potential game-tying free throw in Wednesday night's 122-121 season-opening loss to the Boston Celtics, but he's hopeful it's a learning experience.

"Hopefully when I'm in the same position, I can make the next one," Antetokounmpo told reporters. "That's the mentality you've got to have. But obviously there's a little bit of a weight on your shoulders because, if you miss, that's it for your team. I'm a winner, and I want to do whatever it takes for my team to win. But, you know, you learn from every situation that basketball puts you in."

The two-time defending NBA MVP was terrific for most of the contest. He finished with 35 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 36 minutes.

Things didn't fall Giannis' way in the game's final seconds, though. He switched on to Jayson Tatum during the Celtics' final offensive possession, and Tatum proceeded to bank in a long three-point attempt over the outstretched arm of the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year to give Boston a two-point lead.

Tristan Thompson then fouled Antetokounmpo with four-tenths of a second left. He hit the first free throw but couldn't tie the game, and the clock ran out.

His performance at the charity stripe has been one of the few issues throughout the four-time All-Star's career. He's shot 72.2 percent from the line across his seven-plus NBA seasons, and that figure dropped to a more concerning 63.3 percent during the 2019-20 season.

The 26-year-old Greece native made six of his eight free-throw attempts (75 percent) against the Celtics, but he missed the most important one of the night.

Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters:

"I love that he's there, game on the line, opening night, going to the free-throw line. He's been working on it. He knows how important it is. I think it's, again, of course, we would love to win, you want to come out, you want to have success, but there's so many good things that happened, including Giannis going to the free-throw line with the game on the line. You can't duplicate that in practice, and he's just going to get better and better as we go forward."

Antetokounmpo added he won't shy from trying to draw fouls late in the game despite Wednesday's high-profile miss:

"I want to be in those moments. I want to [have the ball] down the stretch. I want to shoot the last two free throws, I want to shoot the last shot, because if you think about it, if you do that a thousand times, some of the times it's going to go in. Some of the times, you're going to be the hero. And, some of the times, you're going to miss. But you learn from it."

The Bucks return home to the Fiserv Forum as they look to score their first win of the season in Friday's Christmas Day clash with the Golden State Warriors.