Giannis Antetokounmpo gave us one of the great NBA Finals performances in the history of the game.
Behind his brilliant 50 point performance, the Milwaukee Bucks secured their first NBA Championship in 50 years in front of the DEER DISTRICT!
They were a Kevin Durant toe on the line in Game 7 round 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs away for this dream being crushed!
Giannis was awarded Finals MVP (no shocks) with what will go down as his greatest game in a Bucks uniform, collecting 50 Points, 14 Rebounds and 2 Assists.
The biggest part of that 50 came from the foul line, with Giannis going 17-19 from the line!
For all the mocking he got on his free throw shooting, the counting from away fans, a performance like that was one for them!
All the way from Athens Greece, Giannis was drafted 15th in the 2013 NBA Draft. 15th!
He was a mystery. An extremely long kid, who had plenty of upside, and a lot of the “unknown” factor.
The Bucks took a flyer on him, and now have themselves an NBA Championship in the books because of it.
The likes of Anthony Bennett, Otto Porter, Cody Zeller and Alex Len were taken in the top 5 of that very draft. Products of the NCAA System.
This list could go on (NBA GMs would rather not), but it goes to show how much the NBA is changing, the rest of the world are making their mark on the NBA!
Questions were asked for years if the Bucks ever did enough to surround Giannis with enough talent to get over the hump and win them a championship.
Khris Middleton had been named an all-star a couple of times, but never got the love his Bucks superstar teammate received. He was good without ever being great in Milwaukee fan’s eyes.
Fast forward to 2021, and he was elite down the stretch in games, hitting clutch buckets in almost every Bucks win, squashing any more talk he couldn’t lead this team to big wins!
Milwaukee were also always a point guard away from winning a title.
For years they ran with Eric Bledsoe, and with all due respect to him, he was never the guy to lead them to a championship.
Milwaukee pulled the trigger on Jrue Holiday in the off season, and those who watched enough Pelicans games knew this guy was THAT GUY to help get this team over the hump.
Holiday locked Booker up in Game 6, holding him to 8-22 and 19 points, while also being a rebound away from a Game 6 Triple Double (12 Pts, 9 Rbs and 11 Asts).
He didn’t shoot the ball well, going 4-19, but his work on the other end of the floor hounding Booker and Paul all series, another 4 steals tonight, goes to show just how valuable he was to this Bucks organisation.
Role Players like PJ Tucker, a mid-season acquisition who gave this team toughness at the defence end of the floor, guarding KD all series against Brooklyn, and never backed away from the challenge of guarding Chris Paul in this series also.
Brook Lopez made huge plays tonight, a monster dunk on Ayton sending the Deer District into hysterics.
Bobby Portis. What more can you say about Bobby Portis.
Bobby was almost a forgotten man in the rotation, but came alive late in this series, (saving his best for last) with 16 points and 3 rebounds on 6-10 from the field.
At the end of the day, this series will be summed up in 3 plays for Giannis and the Bucks.
- “That Block” in Game 4.
- “That Dunk” in Game 5. (Credit Jrue Holiday strip and pass).
- 50 Piece in the Close out.
Bucks in 6! Enjoy this one DEER DISTRICT!
Συγχαρητήρια Giannis! You finally did it!
It’s been a pleasure!!
Bauky