Giannis Antetokounmpo is making his claim to be the best player in the NBA this season. Having enjoyed an MVP-level campaign during the regular season, Giannis is dominating in the postseason as well, helping the Milwaukee Bucks handily beat the Chicago Bulls in the first round and giving them a 2-1 lead against a very good Boston Celtics team in the second round.
In Game 3, Giannis scored a whopping 42 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 8 assists as the Bucks narrowly edged out the Celtics in their home arena, leaving fans in awe. This was the 6th time Antetokounmpo has scored 40 points or more in the postseason, notably tying with Geroge Gervin and Steph Curry, just 1 game behind Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has as many 40+ point games in his playoff career as Steph Curry.
— Scott Grodsky (@ScottGrodsky) May 8, 2022
“Giannis Antetokounmpo has as many 40+ point games in his playoff career as Steph Curry.”
Not only is this a huge achievement in regards to Giannis continuing to add NBA accolades to his list, but it’s also even more impressive that he’s doing it in the era of three-point shooting. Antetokounmpo gets most of his points in the paint, getting to the basket and backing players down, which makes high-scoring games a bit tough to achieve.
This is in stark opposition to Steph Curry, who is the greatest shooter of all time and a lot of his shots are three-pointers. Considering that he gets more points per shot than Giannis in that sense, the Greek Freak being level with him is a testament to his dominance over the last few seasons.
Giannis is already an NBA champion and a Finals MVP, if he can repeat the achievement with the Bucks this season, that would put him in the conversation to be considered a Top 15 player of all time. He’s only getting better too, and seeing that he’s just 27, he’ll likely move much further up the list before everything is said and done.
