Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 47 points in helping the Bucks drop the Lakers on Wednesday night.

MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo has gotten attention so far this season for his new streamlined free-throw routine: Pantomime his shooting form with a determined look, then receive the ball from the referee. Big exhale. Spin the ball in his hands. One dribble — and one dribble only — before he launches.

Whole thing takes a tick beyond six seconds.

As for any tweaks in Anthony Davis’ free-throw routine, uh, don’t know. Didn’t see. The Los Angeles Lakers’ big man didn’t shoot any in his team’s 109-102 loss to the Bucks Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Their absence was duly noted by Lakers coach Frank Vogel, who mentioned a couple of times that the league office would be hearing about it.

“You label clips in the portal every game,” Vogel said afterward. “Then when there’s a huge discrepancy, like we saw with them shooting 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and Anthony Davis getting flagrant-fouled on a dunk on one play and having zero free-throw attempts for the game, it’s just frustrating. So we communicate with the director of officiating, we send clips in the portal and they do a good job of evaluating that stuff. And that’s just the process.”

That sort of appeal is lobbying for another game, changing nothing about Wednesday night’s result. The Lakers, understandably, are frustrated a month into this 2021-22 season. They’re 8-8 now, with LeBron James sitting out the past eight games (3-5) with an abdominal strain. They have pieces to fit, bonding to do, chemistry to build.

And get this: the Lakers’ 20.1 free-throw attempts per game are the fewest in franchise history. Davis is getting 5.8 nightly to lead these Lakers, who rank 12th in the NBA in attempts per game — down from sixth (23.3) last season and eighth (24.3) in 2019-20.

Earning fewer trips to the line than their opponents four times in the past seven games, and just seven times so far this season, hardly seems like a crisis. And Davis — who did think he got fouled on a breakout dunk play in which Antetokounmpo’s right knee banged into Davis’ thigh, a very non-flagrant foul to which Vogel alluded — essentially shrugged and put the onus back on his team.

“Part of it is, we’re not getting the foul calls,” he said. “And then part of it is, us as a team. … Go in and try to finish instead of trying to get the call.”

Part of L.A. being rankled was getting whistled nearly twice as often as Milwaukee, 19-10. And seeing Antetokounmpo get 11 free throws, eight of which he made.

The Bucks’ star and Davis both played 37 minutes and the matchup went Antetokounmpo’s way: 47 points, nine rebounds, three assists, one steal, one block, on 18-of-23 shooting overall, 3-of-4 on 3-pointers and the aforementioned free throws. Davis finished with 18-9-4 with two blocks, on 9-of-15 shooting (0-for-1 on 3-pointers).

For all the two teams’ issues at this point, with injuries and protocol absences contributing heavily to their combined 15-16 mark, there was the “Greek Freak” vs. “AD” matchup.

On a night when nearly 7% of the NBA’s Top 75 players were in the building — Antetkounmpo, Davis, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony played, with James on the visitors’ bench in street clothes — that was worth popping the popcorn. Squint a little and you could see some of the great, fun big-man clashes stretching back across the league’s history: Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs. Elvin Hayes. Bob Lanier vs. Moses Malone. Hakeem Olajuwon vs. David Robinson. Tim Duncan vs. Kevin Garnett.

This wasn’t just dinosaurs down low, banging relentlessly in the post like the old-schoolers, but there was some of that. But Antetokounmpo and Davis represented peak evolution of big-man play, mobile, quick, strong and skilled. They tormented each other all night, attacking the rim but also dueling from outside. Each snuffed the other’s shot once.

Here’s Antetokounmpo on coping with Davis: “He can shoot the ball, he can face up. Go left, shoot over you, y’know, [at] 6-11. So you’ve got to guard people like that as a team. For me personally, I just try to make it as hard as possible for him. Try to use my length. When he tries to go in the paint, I try to be as physical as possible, I think the same way he tries to guard me. But I don’t think there were a lot of plays where he drove to the paint and we pushed one another early, for him to go to the line more.”

And Davis on Antetkounmpo: “We want him shooting that three ball — he’s gotten better at that. Everyone against the Lakers makes their 3s. I mean, we know he’s been working on it, but that’s a shot that we’re living with. Then most of the time, where we’d switch, they’d throw it over the top and he’s there. Or we’re in a pick-and-roll and I step up on the guard and now he’s got him in the pocket, now he’s gonna have the smaller guy.

“We kind of switched up in the third quarter where we were trying to be a little more physical. It slowed him down, but then he made a couple more jumpers. Then when we went zone and they put him in the middle, when he’s closer to the basket, and now you’re scrambling and they can start overloading to one side. He’s 7 foot. A lot of his shots were in the paint. But he was hitting some big-time shots to keep us honest.”

The lopsided stats line looked less so strictly in the second half. Davis scored 10 points to Antetokounmpo’s 19 but had more rebounds (7-4), was +9 to his counterpart’s -9 and the Lakers won the half, 49-45.

They and their teams are scheduled to meet for the second and last time this season Feb. 8 at the Lakers’ newly redubbed arena, “The Crypt.” Cross your fingers for another old-fashioned showdown of two new-age bigs.

“That’s one of the best players in the league,” Antetokounmpo said. “You’ve got to have your guard up. You’ve got to be ready to compete with a guy like Anthony Davis. And a guy like Carmelo and a guy like Russell Westbrook. Guys like that, if they smell fear, they go at you.

“The same with me: if I see somebody scared of me, I’m going all night. I’m not gonna stop. So you’ve got to be ready to take the challenge and you’ve got to be willing to take the challenge.”

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