Giannis Antetokounmpo is that man. The man who stood up when the Milwaukee Bucks needed it most. The Phoenix Suns were in desperation mode. It was win or go home. Chris Paul stopped flopping and started playing. Devin Booker played possessed. Even Cameron Payne stepped up to put the pressure on the Bucks
The Suns forced the man from Greece to play like a titan. Antetokounmpo played 42 out of 48 minutes. He scored 50 points. Grabbed 14 rebounds. Had 5 monster blocked shots and handed out 2 assists. I guess it’s kind of hard to get assists when one is scoring 50 points. But it shouldn’t have been. G.A. only shot the ball 25 times. Read that again TWENTY-Five times and made 16 of those attempts for 33 points. The other 17 came from the foul line out of 19 attempts. He only missed two free throws. That has to be the most efficient 50 points in the history of the NBA Finals. Not only that, he did it in a close-out game. When the pressure is on and the stakes are high.
Giannis has not been known as the good to great free throw shooter that he was last night. His regular-season percentage is 69%. Last night he shot 84%. His regular-season scoring average is 28 points. Last night he had fifty. It’s called Standing The Buck Up. Giannis played point guard, off guard, small forward, power forward, and center last night. He probably handed out towels in the timeout and filled the water bottles at halftime. The point is Giannis Antetokounmpo did everything and he did it as a stand-up guy. Not flopping like James harden. Not begging for a foul like Lebron James. G.A., Kris Middleton, Jrue Holliday, P.J. Tucker, and sometimes Brook Lopez, are down-to-earth winners. They are refreshingly exciting in today’s Nothing But Actors league. They play hard, they play fast, they play good on offense and defense. They play without the standard crying and whining that accompanies most games
Giannis has been called a lot of names since entering the league. Some positive some negative. Now you have to call him the Most Valuable Player of the NBA’s 2021 Finals. If Tampa Bay had a team. It would be the Bucks