SUMMARY
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Anyone would be hard pressed to find a sidekick in NBA history who would be capable of what Giannis Antetokounmpo did to Jae Crowder in the possession below.
Crowder possesses the requisite bulk and strength – despite being five inches shorter – to hold his own against Antetokounmpo in single coverage. But “holding one’s own” in single coverage situations against the Milwaukee Bucks superstar might as well translate to “surviving until the inevitable happens.”
Most superstars have that aura of inevitability surrounding them. LeBron James has the unique combination of strength, agility, and basketball IQ to attack defenses in a multitude of ways. Stephen Curry is an offense unto himself, with the ability to destroy defenses with or without the ball in his hands. Kevin Durant is the ultimate scoring machine who can get buckets in any way he wants, wherever he wants, and whenever he wants.
Sooner or later, we all may have to include Antetokounmpo among such hallowed company, despite what so-called pundits have been saying about his ability to lead a franchise.
After putting up 42-12-4 in Game 2, on a 68/20/61 shooting split and 70.2% true shooting, Antetokounmpo continued his sublime play in Game 3: 41-13-6, on 61% shooting from the field and 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the free-throw line, numbers that placed him front and center in the Bucks’ 120-100 victory to notch their first win of the series.
In 3 games, Antetokounmpo is averaging 34-14-5 on 67% true shooting – numbers that belie his perceived nature as a “Robin.”
Lost in the overall dominance of the Suns has been the dominance displayed by Antetokounmpo whenever he’s on the floor. The answer to slowing down Antetokounmpo has always been to put size and length on him – two traits that Deandre Ayton possesses, which made the decision to put him on Antetokounmpo an easy one.
There was just one slight problem: Ayton spent the majority of Game 3 in foul trouble. He played just a shade under 25 minutes in a game where he was in an early offensive groove. His roll gravity and ability to punish mismatches down low allowed the Phoenix Suns to keep it close, while his defense on Antetokounmpo on the other end served as a crucial stopgap.
But Ayton racking up personal fouls forced the Suns to make choices. The first: playing Frank Kaminsky off the bench, a consequence of the Suns’ shallow center depth that was, in turn, a consequence of Dario Šarić’s torn ACL. Once Kaminsky saw time on the floor, the Bucks made sure to target him in several ways.
Antetokounmpo feasted in transition, aided by excellent decision making from Khris Middleton. On several occasions, the Suns opted to trap Middleton on ball screens, forcing him to speed up his reads and counting on his indecisiveness and proclivity to commit mistakes to force turnovers or ill-advised shots.
But forcing Middleton to not overthink things may have played into the Bucks’ hands:
Watch Kaminsky in the clip above. He is caught out of position, leaving Antetokounmpo open on the roll as the release valve. This forces Devin Booker to help off the left corner, but Booker is not equipped to stop Antetokounmpo in deep paint position, leading to an and-1.
Once Antetokounmpo builds up enough momentum in transition, he is nigh unstoppable, a freight train with its brakes cut off. But one cannot help but feel that if it were Ayton in this instance instead of Kaminsky, the chances of stopping Antetokounmpo from getting to the rim – by hook or by crook – would’ve been bigger:
It’s extremely difficult to stop Antetokounmpo with a full head of steam. He scored 1.23 points per possession (PPP) during the regular season on transition possessions like the one above – 5th among 29 players who have at least 200 such possessions, per Synergy.
Even on plays where Antetokounmpo isn’t involved in the finish, his mere presence as a paint threat opens up looks for his teammates. His roll gravity and the threat of a drop pass or lob creates opportunities for penetration and allows the Bucks to pressure the rim, especially when there is a lack of rim protection.
The movement in the possession below is an absolute joy to watch, with multiple elements and many moving parts. But Antetokounmpo’s role in it was crucial. After initiating “Chicago” action up top – a down screen for the corner man followed by a dribble hand-off – Antetokounmpo’s roll to the rim forces Kaminsky to help off the corner, triggering the pass to PJ Tucker.
Tucker’s reputation as a corner sharpshooter precedes itself, so Kaminsky is forced to make a hard close-out. This makes him vulnerable to Tucker’s penetration and subsequent two-man game with Jrue Holiday. A Tucker roll after slipping the screen gets the Bucks easy paint points – but it was made possible by Kaminsky not being able to properly commit to Tucker, due to the threat of Antetokounmpo roaming in the dunker spot.
The roll gravity of Antetokounmpo forced the Suns defense into mistakes they normally wouldn’t commit. Basic defensive concepts are often forgotten in the face of an otherworldly threat. Even if the Suns would rather give up a Bobby Portis corner three instead of a potential downhill smash from Antetokounmpo, helping off the strong-side corner is a defensive faux pas that the Bucks will gladly take advantage of.
The Bucks were intent on Antetokounmpo leveraging his skill set as a roll man in a couple of empty-corner pick-and-rolls – deadly due to the lack of strong-side help and also because an elite roller such as Antetokounmpo is the perfect player to take full advantage.
Other than going to Kaminsky, the second choice the Suns had was to go to a smaller lineup. In theory, that allowed them to spread the ball on offense, a 5-out configuration that maximized spacing and shooting, especially with Cam Johnson being their small-ball 5.
But Antetokounmpo punished the Suns’ smaller lineup, which was full of potential mismatches and was bereft of rim protection. It also lacked the size to haul down rebounds, which allowed Antetokounmpo to snatch multiple offensive boards and putbacks.
Overall, the Bucks’ offensive process was much better. Sets and motions weren’t just there as eye candy, but were run with purpose and practicality. Instead of settling for isolations and pure mismatch hunting, they sought out secondary actions once initial actions stagnated.
Of course, it was more than just the dominance of Antetokounmpo and the overall improved offensive process that contributed to the Bucks’ win. Their defense held strong against the Suns, who shot just 9-of-31 (29%) on threes after a scorching 20-of-40 performance in Game 2. After giving up 17 corner threes – 10 of which the Suns drilled – in Game 2, the Bucks allowed just 4 attempts this time, with none of them going in.
Booker was held to 10 points on 21.4% shooting from the field, a consequence of the Bucks’ heavy switching and throwing multiple defenders at him, namely Tucker and Middleton, who took turns in making Booker’s life a living hell.
The Suns, just like the Bucks in the buildup toward Game 3, have problems to solve and gaps to close, with the biggest one being the conundrum of finding ways to stop Antetokounmpo from obtaining a vice grip on games. Ayton being in foul trouble was crucial, but it may take more than just one man to stop Antetokounmpo from relentlessly punishing the Suns.
It’s easier said than done to form walls against this version of Antetokounmpo – one that is much smarter, more reigned in, and has developed the necessary decision-making skills to attack defenses intelligently in lieu of using brute force.
Such an approach to the game – perhaps the most cerebral we’ve seen out of Antetokounmpo – has taken him to heights he has never previously approached. What we may all be witnessing is the evolution of a superstar into an all-time great. As premature as that may sound – the Bucks still have to climb out of a 2-1 hole – it’s never a crime to appreciate what’s happening before our very eyes.
“He’s just doing whatever it takes to help his team, to help us,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said of Antetokounmpo. “He’s in an aggressive mindset. He always plays that way. But I thought he played with the pass well. He made some great reads, found guys, played against the zone. He just did a little bit of everything. Offensive boards, putbacks. We need a lot from him and that’s what he does.”
Antetokounmpo joins a hallowed list, one of two players in NBA Finals history to have back-to-back 40-point and 10-rebound games.
Antetokounmpo is developing that aura of inevitability that modern greats such as James, Curry, and Durant have built in previous years. He’s doing it through commanding paint presence, roll gravity that forces defenses to commit entire gameplans to him, and an improved cerebrality that has taken his game to the next level.
It remains to be seen whether those are enough to take him to the mountaintop, but it has been enough to conclude that Antetokounmpo – in no uncertain terms – is no mere sidekick. – Rappler.com
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