Giannis Antetokounmpo 20-21 Thread

[Asianiac_24]

Call me crazy, but Giannis tonight had the GOAT finals game ever. The mega efficient scoring, low turnovers, rebounding, superb defense and endless hustle. Overall this series is IMO above 2016 LeBron finals.

[GSP]

Call me crazy, but Giannis tonight had the GOAT finals game ever. The mega efficient scoring, low turnovers, rebounding, superb defense and endless hustle. Overall this series is IMO above 2016 LeBron finals.

The 16 Warriors were way better than these Suns and had multiple viable defenders to guard Bron.

Playoff P had a 37.3 gamescore game against these Suns too. Giannis series is up there but not on Brons level IMO

[NRSV]

Call me crazy, but Giannis tonight had the GOAT finals game ever. The mega efficient scoring, low turnovers, rebounding, superb defense and endless hustle. Overall this series is IMO above 2016 LeBron finals.

Talk about prisoner of the moment.

LeBron’s had about a dozen better Finals games since 2011. Facing better teams, dictating the entire games’ tapestry, and often with far worse teammates than Giannis.

[VanWest82]

idk guys this game is way up there. Bron never had a Finals close out game like this, nor MJ. Stakes count too.

[falcolombardi]

idk guys this game is way up there. Bron never had a Finals close out game like this, nor MJ. Stakes count too.

close out game maybe not but key game in a series or elimination game? lebron has the 2012 boston or the games 5 and 6 vs warriors in 16

jordan has some incredible games to win the ring too

[VanWest82]

idk guys this game is way up there. Bron never had a Finals close out game like this, nor MJ. Stakes count too.

close out game maybe not but key game in a series or elimination game? lebron has the 2012 boston or the games 5 and 6 vs warriors in 16

jordan has some incredible games to win the ring too

The claim was goat Finals game. I'd have to do a little more research but given the stakes this one is definitely in contention.

Edit: I guess Giannis did have a lot of turnovers so the efficiency isn't quite what it seems. His two way play was incredible.

[GSP]

idk guys this game is way up there. Bron never had a Finals close out game like this, nor MJ. Stakes count too.

close out game maybe not but key game in a series or elimination game? lebron has the 2012 boston or the games 5 and 6 vs warriors in 16

jordan has some incredible games to win the ring too

Bron game 7 VS Spurs in 13>>>> Celtics game 6

we werent that good in 2012. Our offense was bottom 5 in the league and a Jrue and Iggy led team almost beat us in 7

[zimpy27]

Giannis looking set to be a top 10 guy all time right now.

[Dr Positivity]

Any player dropping 50 in a close out is legendary as seen by Pettit still being one of the most famous finals games 63 years later. The blocks/defense is what makes it ridiculous.

[Asianiac_24]

Call me crazy, but Giannis tonight had the GOAT finals game ever. The mega efficient scoring, low turnovers, rebounding, superb defense and endless hustle. Overall this series is IMO above 2016 LeBron finals.

Talk about prisoner of the moment.

LeBron’s had about a dozen better Finals games since 2011. Facing better teams, dictating the entire games’ tapestry, and often with far worse teammates than Giannis.

I’d like to hear what those dozen are. As for better team, sure, but not G5/6 Warriors. Game 5 had no Draymond and G6 Iguodala had back spasms and was barely playable. He also had a teammate who played just as well in those 2 games. Giannis was a one man show.

[Zarozzor]

Giannis looking set to be a top 10 guy all time right now.

Going to be very interesting to follow. I hope he makes a run and I’m able to witness it.

[dygaction]

Giannis looking set to be a top 10 guy all time right now.

Going to be very interesting to follow. I hope he makes a run and I’m able to witness it.

Another MVP or FMVP will make his 4 year peak as good as anyone.
If he can get both next year, he may just cruise control for several more all-nba seasons for a top 10 atg bound career.

[70sFan]

One of the best performances ever and even though he scored 50 points, he was even better on defensive end. The Greek Freak finally put up everything together and finished ATG postseason run. Can't wait to see Bucks in the next season, I became a fan of them.

[TheGOATRises007]

That might have been the best performance in a finals I've ever seen.

I can't wrap my head around how incredible he was. He felt like a video game created player out there.

[JulesWinnfield]

Call me crazy, but Giannis tonight had the GOAT finals game ever. The mega efficient scoring, low turnovers, rebounding, superb defense and endless hustle. Overall this series is IMO above 2016 LeBron finals.

Talk about prisoner of the moment.

LeBron’s had about a dozen better Finals games since 2011. Facing better teams, dictating the entire games’ tapestry, and often with far worse teammates than Giannis.

No he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a single game that’s decisively better than this one let alone a dozen. Giannis just literally scored half his teams points in a close out game and authored a 33 point second half when his team was trailing entering said half, not to mention his defense was absolutely absurd.

Lebron is arguably the GOAT but we don’t have to exaggerate. What we have seen from Giannis in this series is tier 1 epic

[TheGOATRises007]

Call me crazy, but Giannis tonight had the GOAT finals game ever. The mega efficient scoring, low turnovers, rebounding, superb defense and endless hustle. Overall this series is IMO above 2016 LeBron finals.

Talk about prisoner of the moment.

LeBron’s had about a dozen better Finals games since 2011. Facing better teams, dictating the entire games’ tapestry, and often with far worse teammates than Giannis.

No he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a single game that’s decisively better than this one let alone a dozen. Giannis just literally scored half his teams points in a close out game and authored a 33 point second half when his team was trailing entering said half, not to mention his defense was absolutely absurd.

Lebron is arguably the GOAT but we don’t have to exaggerate. What we have seen from Giannis in this series is tier 1 epic

No one in NBA history has a game decisively better than Giannis' game 6 performance.

He was truly sensational.

Some Lebron fans get mad when people downplay Lebron's greatness, but they go and do it for other players constantly. Ironic.

[NO-KG-AI]

Yea man, you can love Giannis game or hate it, you can say it won't always work, or this team could have slowed it, or this would have happened, or whatever excuse you feel like conjuring, but that game was as dominant as it gets. Point, blank period. Doesn't matter if you think it was or wasn't skill, or whatever caveats you want to apply to it. His teammates were playing not great, and he just punched a hole in the Suns over and over and over through sheer force of will.

This wasn't his best season statistically, or even his best statistical playoff, but this is clearly a better version of Giannis than we've seen, even if he's still rough around the edges, he's found more ways to win ugly and gut out tough victories and not get stifled as often.

Applause to his and the Bucks grit. Something feels good about seeing a team take their lumps and keep coming back for more until they break through.

[Jdw38]

I think one could say Lebron’s game 6 in 2016 was reasonably better. For what it’s worth, I think his game score was marginally higher than Giannis (someone can fact check this). But more crucially, Lebron’s game 6 was against a far more experienced and offensively and defensively loaded team that was also the reigning champion that just broke the 96 Bulls all-time winning record, with the back-to-back MVP who was the first ever unanimous MVP; Iggy was also the reigning Finals MVP and Dray was the DPOTY if I recall correctly. Plus, the Warriors had far more effective defenders against Lebron, forcing him to utilize his entire basketball skill set to mount an effective counter-attack. This Suns team, while a truly good team no doubt about it, was far more inexperienced and flat-out worse of an opponent. While Lebron didn’t quite score as much, he had a hellava lot more assists and flat out orchestrated the team by himself, especially as Kyrie was suffering. His defense, especially against the MVP was legendary, he even managed to break Steph’s mental composure resulting in him getting ejected. And he even hit the crucial shots that stopped the Warriors from nearly getting back in the game. And Lebron’s game 6 was a legit elimination game.

All facts considered, I’d take Lebron’s game 6.

[JVL]

idk guys this game is way up there. Bron never had a Finals close out game like this, nor MJ. Stakes count too.

Imagine thinking the Suns are on par with the Spurs or Warriors.

[sansterre]

Talk about prisoner of the moment.

LeBron’s had about a dozen better Finals games since 2011. Facing better teams, dictating the entire games’ tapestry, and often with far worse teammates than Giannis.

No he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a single game that’s decisively better than this one let alone a dozen. Giannis just literally scored half his teams points in a close out game and authored a 33 point second half when his team was trailing entering said half, not to mention his defense was absolutely absurd.

Lebron is arguably the GOAT but we don’t have to exaggerate. What we have seen from Giannis in this series is tier 1 epic

No one in NBA history has a game decisively better than Giannis' game 6 performance.

He was truly sensational.

Some Lebron fans get mad when people downplay Lebron's greatness, but they go and do it for other players constantly. Ironic.

In terms of Game-Level BPM, Giannis posted a +18.9 in Game 6. That's a fantastic performance, especially in a close-out game. For reference, his line was 50 points on 33.4 TSA, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 blocks and 6 turnovers.

If I look at all playoff games ever and restrict our pool to players that played at least 40 minutes, Giannis' Game 6 ranks . . . #125.

#1, if you're curious, was Vince Carter's Game 3 in the 2001 Semis against Philly, where he scored 50 on only 30.3 TSA (in a tougher scoring environment) and paired it with 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 blocks and only 1 turnover. I am certain that Giannis was a more valuable defender (by a lot), but Carter's offensive stat-line is clearly superior. This isn't to say that Giannis' game 6 was bad (the 125th best playoff performance in the modern era is still amazing).

What if we limit it to the NBA Finals?

Giannis' Game 6 is now 19th. Here are the Top 3 performances in terms according to game-level BPM:

#1. 2003 Tim Duncan, Game 1 vs the Nets: 32 points on 23.2 TSA, 20 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 turnover, 3 steals, 7 blocks.

#2. 2016 Draymond Green, Game 7 vs the Cavs: 32 points on 16.8 TSA, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals.

#3. 2016 LeBron James, Game 6 vs the Warriors: 41 points on 30.5 TSA, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 1 turnover, 4 steals and 3 blocks

Do I feel comfortable that these three performances are better than Giannis'? Yeah, probably. The secret flaw in Giannis' game 6 was having only 2 assists but 6 turnovers. Note that all of the above games are extremely low on turnovers, and all had a considerably number of assists.

I say all of this not to diminish Giannis' Game 6, but just to provide some context.

What if we're only looking at the scoring?

Giannis had 50 points on 75% true shooting.

Eight other players historically have scored at least 50 in the playoffs on higher efficiency. The leading example was Damian Lillard with 55 points on 96.8% TS. And obviously we're just looking at pure TS%, not rTS% (which would make older players more competitive in this regard).

If you want to restrict this to the Finals, he is certainly the most efficient scorer of 50 on the record. In 2018 LeBron scored 51 on 69.2% TS, which is outstanding but not as good as Giannis. If we dropped the standard to 45, we'd get Jordan's Game 5 against Portland, where he scored 45 on 73.3% efficiency, which would actually be a higher rTS than Giannis' Game 6. But again, lower volume.

I guess, if you wanted to say "Giannis' Game 6 in the Finals may well have been the best scoring performance we've seen in the NBA Finals" . . . I think that's a pretty defensible statement.

But as soon as you open it up to non-scoring considerations Giannis' Game 6 drops in the ranks down to the merely "Historically Fantastic". There have been a lot of great players playing a lot of great games for a long time. It's an incredible achievement on Giannis' part that he now merits inclusion in this discussion.