Over the last few seasons, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has established himself as arguably the best player in the NBA. While many discredited that due to Antetokounmpo not having an NBA Championship on his resume, that changed last season.
He led the Bucks to a phenomenal postseason run and won the first ring of his career. Now, this season, the Bucks are all set for another such run in the playoffs. They have already got past the first hurdle of the path by defeating the Chicago Bulls in Round 1 of the playoffs.
If someone looks at The Greek Freak’s game, one might say his strongest attribute is his insane ability to score points. But that’s not how Giannis views himself. In fact, he believes he doesn’t primarily affect the game with his scoring.
“I don’t affect the game by scoring points. That’s not who I am. I affect the game by playing hard, trying to block a shot, playing defense, creating for my teammates, trying to get to the paint, rebound the ball, lead them you know, be vocal. Sometimes I got to score the ball. In my head I don’t think about like ‘Hey Khris is down, I got to score.’ It’s kind of the opposite, I’m like ‘Damn, Khris is down now we got to get 30, 40 points from somebody else.’”
He continued, “You got to move the ball, you got to trust Grayson, trust Pat, Pat was amazing by the way today, Brook, Bobby, Jrue got to be Jrue, anybody that checks in. You got to trust all of them, everybody got to show up. And that comes with maturity. If you ask me five years ago, I’m like ‘Yeah, maybe I’ll try to score 50.’ But it’s not five years ago.”
"I don't affect the game by scoring… I affect the game by playing hard, trying to block a shot, playing defense, creating for my teammates… lead them you know, be vocal" @Giannis_An34 on his approach to the game and trusting his teammates. pic.twitter.com/ZjTxHXdmea
— NBA (@NBA) April 28, 2022
By making this statement Giannis has once again won the love of fans from all around the globe. It’s great to see one of the biggest superstars in the league right now, being so humble and understanding of what his role is in the team.
Moving forward, the Bucks need Giannis to do all the things he mentioned above. After all, the playoffs have just started and things are only going to be tougher as we progress.