‘Unstoppable’ Giannis Antetokounmpo makes things looks easy, but he knows it’s not
WASHINGTON — After watching him make 19 of his first 21 shots, the Washington Wizards finally forced Giannis Antetokounmpo into a fourth-quarter miss with a little more than a minute and a half left in Monday’s game.
It didn’t much matter though because, following his missed fadeaway jumper on the right wing, Antetokounmpo beat Daniel Gafford to the ball, secured the offensive rebound and dunked his miss to close out the night.
When the final buzzer sounded and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Wizards 142-129 to collect their fifth straight win, Antetokounmpo’s stat line read 42 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. He finished the night with a 20-of-23 shooting performance. He collected offensive rebounds and finished two of his three misses, so he came away empty-handed on just one possession where he attempted a shot, and that led his new coach to a simple conclusion after the game.
“Unstoppable,” Adrian Griffin said. “He literally is unstoppable. And you couple him with the other special talent that we have, it really frees him up to do what he does best. You’re gonna have to send multiple bodies at him, and that’s going to leave some really good shooters open. Man, he was in his rhythm tonight. He’s unstoppable. You can’t stop him.”
Elite efficiency from Giannis tonight.— Milwaukee Bucks November 21, 2023
There are a number of impressive statistical oddities surrounding Monday’s performance, but the most impressive might be the fact that Antetokounmpo has done this before. Monday’s game was the sixth time in Antetokounmpo’s career he has scored at least 40 points on 80 percent shooting or better. According to Basketball-Reference’s Stathead tool , 72 players in NBA history have recorded such a stat line. A dozens have done it more than once, and only two players, Wilt Chamberlain and Adrian Dantley, have done it more times (seven) than Antetokounmpo’s six such games in the last six seasons.
Many of the people in the Bucks’ locker room have already seen one of these performances from Antetokounmpo, so their reactions are a bit more muted at this point. Those reveling in the experience for the first time, however, truly enjoy the show.
“I think when you got a guy that big that moves that well and he’s long, fast, it’s just a tough cover. You fouled him, or he’s going to get to the rim,” Bucks point guard Damian Lillard said after putting up 22 points and seven rebounds in the win. “I think sometimes defenders don’t expect him to cover as much ground he does. I think some guys think they’re in a good position, and then he just extends and he’s right at the rim.
“Like the Greek Freak? He’s a freak. It’s things that you just can’t do anything about. So 20-for-23, I think the quality of the shots that he’s getting, he’s right at the basket and there’s nothing they can do about it a lot of time, so it is impressive. Twenty out of 23 is crazy. That’s crazy.”
When asked about his performance after the game and finding a way to make 20 of his 23 shots, Antetokounmpo credited the variety of opportunities he was given to score.
“Just trying to play random basketball,” Antetokounmpo said. “Tried to be in multiple positions. Left block. Right block. Transition. Rim run. Off the dribble. Nail. Roll. Pop. Just play random basketball. I think it’s harder to guard, harder for them to load up and build the wall.
“There’s going to be some days that it’s going to work and somedays that it’s not gonna work. Today was a day that I was able to get a few buckets, and hopefully there’s many more games like this one. But at the end of the day, I just got to keep on playing, keep on being aggressive, trying to make the right play with my teammates. Try to do whatever I can to help them win.”
The Wizards are just 2-11 on the season after Monday’s loss and are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, so there were plenty of good looks for Antetokounmpo. Nine of his 20 made shots ended up being dunks, but even some of those, like this one in the third quarter, were not necessarily easy, as Antetokounmpo regularly needed to finish through traffic.
With such explosive scoring nights being somewhat common for the two-time NBA MVP over the last six seasons, one reporter asked Antetokounmpo if it ever feels easy for him on a big night.
“It’s not easy,” Antetokounmpo said. “I wish it was easy. You know, I wish it was easy. I wish I could come in and score 42 every game, you know? But no, it’s not. It’s hard. You’ve got to work extremely hard to get comfortable, to get in your rhythm, to get to your spot, to play make for yourself, to play make for your teammates. It’s hard, but I think I have worked extremely hard to kind of take care of my body, being healthy and being able to play every single night 30-plus minutes.
“Also, I’ve worked on my strength to be able to be on balance to get to my spot, even though guys are pushing me off. I study film and try to figure out angles, timing that I can drive the ball and be effective in the paint. But it’s not easy. It’s a lot of hours and a lot of sweat that I’ve put into this to be able to have this outcome. So, yeah, I appreciate it. That’s a compliment that (someone) thinks that it’s easy, but no, man, it’s not easy.”
Even on his scoring attempts at the rim, Antetokounmpo showed off a few new tricks. Twice on Monday, he “split” a pick-and-roll coverage from the Wizards off the dribble, like he did for this first half bucket with Pat Connaughton as the screener.
In the third quarter, as the Wizards made a run at the Bucks and eventually took a lead in the fourth quarter, Antetokounmpo showed off a pretty fadeaway jumper that he kissed off the glass.
Antetokounmpo’s night was not only about scoring; he also tallied eight assists. And as the Bucks closed out the Wizards down the stretch, he trusted his teammates and created great looks for them as well, even while he had the hot hand as a scorer.
First, Antetokounmpo drew multiple defenders on a post-up to create a wide-open 3-point look for Lillard.
And then, he used a screen from Brook Lopez (16 points, nine rebounds, five blocks) to create an open corner 3 for Malik Beasley , who tallied 16 points and five rebounds, on a gorgeous no-look pass.
Monday was not a banner night for the Bucks’ improving defense, a fact Griffin was not shy about discussing postgame , but the Bucks had six players score in double figures and shot 58.5 percent from the field as a team, which was more than enough to get past the Wizards. And everything they did on that end of the floor was led by Antetokounmpo’s focused attack on the rim.
“I just like the way he’s playing right now,” Khris Middleton (18 points, seven assists in 23 minutes) said. “He’s not settling. And when I say that, that doesn’t mean he’s not settling for jump shots, that means he’s taking what the defense is giving him and he’s putting everything he has into it, whether that’s driving, finding guys, taking his midrange, his 3 a little bit.
“He’s always realized what he has at the rim, but I think he sees a lot of space the way we’re playing right now with Dame out there, myself out there a little bit more and Brook’s spacing and the shooters around. Teams are worried about loading up all the way and they’re trying to be cautious about their double teams of when and how. So he’s doing a great job of attacking that one-on-one battle as quickly and efficiently as he can.”
Now, with a five-game winning streak, the Bucks head to Boston for a matchup with the Celtics on Wednesday and a true test of everything they’ve been trying to build in their first 14 games.
(Photo of Giannis Antetokounmpo: Stephen Gosling/ NBAE via )
