{"id":106893,"date":"2024-11-14T10:06:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=106893"},"modified":"2024-11-14T10:06:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:06:43","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-greek-god-act-bucks-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/14\/giannis-antetokounmpo-greek-god-act-bucks-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s Greek God Act Gives Bucks A Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Milwaukee Bucks are just 4-8 in 2024-25 and 23-31 in the Doc Rivers era. If he didn\u2019t have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> on the roster, that record would be even worse.<\/p>\n<h2>Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s Greek God Act Gives Bucks A Prayer<\/h2>\n<p>On Wednesday, Antetokounmpo recorded 59 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks, and two steals against the Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">What a freakish stat line from Giannis.<\/p>\n<p>59 PTS | 14 REB | 7 AST | 3 BLK | 2 STL | 62% FG <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Mu75qJk7qO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Mu75qJk7qO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Bucks\/status\/1856919732512837895?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It still took the Bucks an overtime period to beat them.<\/p>\n<p>While Milwaukee playing without eight-time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a> is worth noting, it may not have been why the result was so close. Lillard is averaging 26.0 points and 6.6 assists per game this season, healthy production. However, his absence might amount to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/28\/will-bucks-damian-lillard-be-moved-by-trade-deadline\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">addition by subtraction<\/a>, with the Bucks now 2-0 without him this season.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, the opponents they faced \u2014the Pistons and Toronto Raptors \u2014aren\u2019t the strongest competition they could face. Nonetheless, Milwaukee\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/29\/giannis-antetokounmpo-desires-2x-nba-champ-to-hang-around\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">much better defensively<\/a>. They held the Raptors to 85 points, their first time this season holding a team to under 100 points. Though in the midst of a career season, Pistons leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cunnica01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cade Cunningham<\/a> shot just 38.2 percent from the field.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, Antetokounmpo is his team\u2019s most \u2014if not only \u2014reliable scorer. So, while he can rely on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/10\/bucks-rotation-young-players-offer-hope\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">his supporting cast<\/a>\u00a0to get stops, there\u2019s no assurance he\u2019ll get enough help offensively. Fortunately for the Bucks, there are few players who put pressure on a defense like Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n<p>Like <em>Ares<\/em>, Antetokounmpo has been their commander in wartime, courageous in battle.<\/p>\n<p>When he attacks the rim, his physical tools shine, Antetokounmpo often bringing down the thunder like <em>Zeus<\/em>. Yet, he also has a knack for finesse finishes, floating to the rim like he had <em>Hermes<\/em>\u2019s winged sandals. This season, he\u2019s also had solid touch on his jumper, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/player\/203507\/shooting\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shooting 46.8 percent from the midrange<\/a>. He\u2019s no <em>Apollo<\/em>, but sometimes he\u2019s quite the archer.<\/p>\n<h3>Keeping The Faith<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Bucks should be thanking their lucky stars that they believed in Antetokounmpo more than the 14 teams that picked in front of them in the 2013 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>The Cleveland Cavaliers could have definitely had him. Instead, they picked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bennean01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Bennett<\/a> with the first overall pick. Bennett wound up playing just 151 NBA games, averaging 12.6 minutes per contest, before he was out of the league.<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Wizards (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porteot01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Otto Porter Jr.<\/a>), Charlotte Hornets (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/z\/zelleco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cody Zeller<\/a>), Phoenix Suns (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lenal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Len<\/a>), Sacramento Kings (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mclembe01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben McLemore<\/a>), and Minnesota Timberwolves (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/burketr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trey Burke<\/a>) had a bit more luck than the Cavs, but none of their lottery selections came close to being an All-Star. Even the Portland Trail Blazers, who have a history of taking the wrong lottery pick, would have rather had Antetokounmpo than who they selected (CJ McCollum).<\/p>\n<p>Only the Bucks\u2019 precognition didn\u2019t err, as they drafted a skinny and lanky Greek-Nigerian forward who was admittedly a project at the time. They\u2019ve been rewarded for that, as Antetokounmpo is now an NBA champion, two-time MVP, eight-time All-Star, and the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year, among many other accomplishments. In Bucks history, he already ranks first in career points (18,868), rebounds (7,865), assists (3,916), blocks (1,001), triple-doubles (45) and a couple of other categories.<\/p>\n<p>To make it all the better, he\u2019s still at the top of his game, and can be the league\u2019s top performer <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/26\/lakers-lebron-james-headlines-nba-real-big-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">any given night<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Milwaukee Bucks are just 4-8 in 2024-25 and 23-31 in the Doc Rivers era. If he didn\u2019t have Giannis Antetokounmpo on the roster, that record would be even worse. Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s Greek God Act Gives Bucks A Prayer On Wednesday, Antetokounmpo recorded 59 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks, and two steals against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":106925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1608,62],"tags":[187,306,98],"class_list":["post-106893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bucks","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-damian-lillard","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-nba-draft"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}