Giannis still ticks after all the licks
If we could get Patrick Ewing's knee pads.
Hakeem Olajuwon's elbow pads. And Horace Grant's goggles … Maybe we could outfit Giannis Antetokounmpo for the rest of the summer.
Because the hard charging Milwaukee Buck and reigning MVP is going to go 100% full steam at all times, even if we're just two games in to the restart of the 2020 NBA season and the first round of the playoffs don't even begin until Aug. 17.
You know this. You expect this. But
guess what unofficial, unrecognized statistic is very much a part of Antetokounmpo's game.
Twelve.
In the first two games back, winning against Boston and losing against Houston, Antetokoumpo scored 72 points, grabbed 33 rebounds, dished 15 assists and hit the deck 12 times. What?
Yes. The 6-foot-11, 242-pound big man who only needs two steps from beyond the three-point arc to get to the rim comes crashing down to earth so often we almost don't notice it anymore. He always bounces back up.
But how many big men are pulled off the floor so often?
Against the physical Celtics, The Freak was – best guess – on the court seven times. Some of them were hard falls, like the second, when he came down on his tailbone.
Others were collisions. In football, running backs like to say they want to be the hammer, not the nail, and in that collision under the basket, didn't it look like Marcus Smart got the more painful end of the hit? That was Giannis' third time on the floor.
And he even spoke to Smart after the game about their matchup.
“I respect I respect him as a player," said Antetokounmpo. "I think he's a great player; what I respect about him is that he's the first guy on the floor. He plays hard. He guards the best player. So that's what I told him. I said, I respect you. I respect you play hard. I just play hard. There's nothing more to that. And I'm not coming at you. That's not my personality.”
He just doesn't ever shy away from crowds. Or contact. On the fourth, he went crashing down after Jaylen Brown and Brad Wanamaker double teamed him.
Part of the reason Antetokounmpo hits the ground so much is that he is in
Giannis Antetokounmpo collides with the Celtics' Marcus Smart while trying to drive around him Friday night.
the air so much. Case in point: Antetokounmpo also hit the court on what was initially called an offensive foul, which would have been his sixth.
“I saw Marcus Smart moving; I thought he was late – that's what I thought when I fell down on the floor. But they called a charge,” said Antetokounmpo. “They went back and reviewed it, they saw that he was moving while I was in the was in the air."
Antetokounmpo acknowledged that he can play too hyped up sometimes, especially early on after an extended break. That's when he fouls more, too, he said.
“Just because of excitement, I'm all over the place,” said Antetokounmpo. "I know as as the games go on I get better and better and better and I usually play the best basketball in the middle of the season, towards the end of the season. So, obviously I feel like I'm gonna be better when the playoffs start."
But for a guy who thinks he's only at 75% of his potential right now – as far as being in game shape – he's playing with a ton of energy. Who can match up?
“Giannis was phenomenal and played through a lot of contact and physicality,” said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer. “That's how Boston plays, you know, give them credit.”
It was more of the same Sunday night against the Rockets; Giannis was on the floor five times. On the second, he hit his right hip and knee. Antetokounmpo needed his right knee to be patched up for a little scratch. Back on the court, he hit the floor again before Brook Lopez rushed over to help him up.
In the final 1 minute 25 seconds against Houston, Antetokounmpo's extra effort led to more floor time; he exerted himself so much going for a shot block he lost his footing.
In areas he can control, Antetokounmpo has talked about playing smarter, like landing on two feet after a dunk.
“I think he's become more and more adept at kind of picking his spots, understanding when and where to attack,” said Budenholzer.
But after the game, he moves slower than anyone else in the Bucks locker room, and exhales heavily before taking his place in front of the cameras, like someone who has lived and labored twice as long as his 25 years.
I'm not saying anything should change. I'm just saying, appreciate these years, these games, when a guy looks like he could play for the Green Bay Packers without pads, and bounces back up every time.
“He's a force and that's part of what makes him special,” said Budenholzer on Sunday. “You know how hard he plays and the contact that occurs. You know defenses are going to try and be aggressive and physical with him and so he may end up on the floor.
“We love him in attack mode and the battle of physicality, more often than not, plays to his strengths.
“But certainly, you do hold their breath whenever he's down.”