Giannis with 15 points in the first 8 minutes.
Jevon Carter absolutely locking down Trae Young. Just beautiful to watch if you like defense.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Bucks up 11 after one. Giannis hits another buzzer beater 3.
17 points in 9 minutes for him. 56 points in his last 37 minutes of playing time.
Bucks up 14 at the half. Bucks hang 68 points on the Hawks.
This game was supposed to be on ESPN but they switched to heat - suns. Good to hear the Bucks are taking care of business against the hawks.
@MNPackman posted:This game was supposed to be on ESPN but they switched to heat - suns. Good to hear the Bucks are taking care of business against the hawks.
You've spoken too soon. Bucks now only up 5.
Holiday has been 3 for 13 from the floor.
Giannis, Middleton, and Portis are 28 for 47.
The rest of the team is 8 for 27. Holiday 3 for 13. Everyone else 5 for 14.
Down to 5 again.
Bucks (mainly Giannis) gets it up to 13 and then Holiday with a couple of bad turnovers and it's back to 9.
Holiday has been great recently, but 4 for 14 with 3 turnovers tonight.
Up only 6 after Holiday loses Young for an open 3 after an airball on the other end.
Giannis now with 41-11-5
Back to back nights for Giannis
39-7-7
43-12-5
28 for 41 from the floor, 5 for 9 from three, 21 for 30 from the line.
I know we are numb to this by now, but this is just ridiculous.
Since missing the Portland game on February 14th, Giannis and the Bucks have played nine games, going 7-2.
During that stretch, Giannis has scored 300 points, grabbed 120 rebounds, dished 53 assists, blocked 11 shots and stolen 15 balls.
His averages the last 9 games are staggering: 33.3 PPG, 13.3 RPG, 5.9 APG, 1.2 BPG and 1.7 SPG.
That comes on 59.7% shooting from the floor (101 of 169), 35.5% from three (11 of 31), and 72.2% from the line (86 for 119).
Per Basketball Reference, Larry Birdâs five seasons of 20 PPG, 10 RPG and 5 APG is the most all-time.
Giannis, having just turned 27, is about to have his fourth season in a row accomplishing those same numbers, barring a precipitous drop off in production.
Additionally, before Giannis came along, two players in NBA history had had a single season averaging 25 PPG, 10 APG, 5 APG, 1 SPG, and 1 BPG.
Giannis is about to do it for the fourth year in a row.
But all he does is dunk, right James Harden?
The Hawks are who we thought they were.
Very good and explosive on offense, but terrible on D and a bit undersized at a few positions.
As for Giannis, Iâm trying to think of another player not named MJ who night after night puts up 30/15 and on some nights itâs 40/15 and makes it look so damn easy. Kareem? Wilt?
@Tschmack posted:The Hawks are who we thought they were.
Very good and explosive on offense, but terrible on D and a bit undersized at a few positions.
As for Giannis, Iâm trying to think of another player not named MJ who night after night puts up 30/15 and on some nights itâs 40/15 and makes it look so damn easy. Kareem? Wilt?
Even Jordan didnât do that. He had 30 or more points, and 15 or more rebounds in the same game only six times in his career (regular seasons; I didnât check in the playoffs).
And Wilt probably did it a bunch of times, but much of that was the product of his size and strength just utterly dominating everybody around him. I donât think it was particularly graceful.
Now, Kareem, on the other hand, was physical, but I think he was even more graceful.
He went 30-15 FIFTEEN timesâĶas a freaking rookie! 35 times his second year, and 41 his third.
Nine times in his first three years he went for over 40 points and 20 rebounds.
What blows me away are his six year averages in Milwaukee: 30.4 PPG, 15.3 RPG.
He literally averaged 30 and 15 for his entire career with the Bucks.
@lambeausouth posted:And Wilt probably did it a bunch of times, but much of that was the product of his size and strength just utterly dominating everybody around him. I donât think it was particularly graceful.
Now, Kareem, on the other hand, was physical, but I think he was even more graceful.
He went 30-15 FIFTEEN timesâĶas a freaking rookie! 35 times his second year, and 41 his third.
Nine times in his first three years he went for over 40 points and 20 rebounds.
What blows me away are his six year averages in Milwaukee: 30.4 PPG, 15.3 RPG.
He literally averaged 30 and 15 for his entire career with the Bucks.
Kareem is at least the third best player in NBA history behind Jordan and LeBron, and I'd argue he should probably be above LeBron.
He was the Finals MVP in 1971 and 1985.
LeBron at age 37 is averaging 29 points a game for a crappy team where no one else is an efficient scorer. Sure, it's impressive, but Kareem average 23 a game on 57% shooting when he was 38 for a team that also had Magic Johnson and James Worthy that made the Finals. It's not like there weren't other options.
At age 40, he played 80 games and average 15 a game while shooting 53% from the floor. He played 30 minutes a game in the playoffs for a title team at age 40.
In the second to last game of his career in the 1989 Finals, he put up 24 and 13 against the Bad Boy Pistons when he was 41.
He's really not talked about in the same breath as Jordan and LeBron, but he should be. He's also the best college basketball player in history. His three years at UCLA (couldn't play as a freshman), they went 88-2 with three national titles. They banned the dunk after his freshman year because he was too dominant.
His high school teams went 79-2 and were considered the top team in the country two of the three years. They won 71 games in a row.
He graduated with a bachelors degree from UCLA and was probably denied coaching opportunities for being outspoken on social Justice issues. Whatever you think of his stances, that's a far cry from Jordan's (Republicans buy shoes too), and LeBron's (I love China) positions.
When you consider his entire career (HS, college and pro) Kareem is the GOAT, and itâs not particularly close.
You can't compare players today with Jordan, Kareem, or Bird. Teams play shit defense nowadays with a few exceptions. It's like watching the All Star game every night or the Pro Bowl. The only thing keeping scoring down is teams jacking 3's all night and missing
@MichiganPacker posted:Kareem is at least the third best player in NBA history behind Jordan and LeBron, and I'd argue he should probably be above LeBron.
He was the Finals MVP in 1971 and 1985.
LeBron at age 37 is averaging 29 points a game for a crappy team where no one else is an efficient scorer. Sure, it's impressive, but Kareem average 23 a game on 57% shooting when he was 38 for a team that also had Magic Johnson and James Worthy that made the Finals. It's not like there weren't other options.
At age 40, he played 80 games and average 15 a game while shooting 53% from the floor. He played 30 minutes a game in the playoffs for a title team at age 40.
In the second to last game of his career in the 1989 Finals, he put up 24 and 13 against the Bad Boy Pistons when he was 41.
He's really not talked about in the same breath as Jordan and LeBron, but he should be. He's also the best college basketball player in history. His three years at UCLA (couldn't play as a freshman), they went 88-2 with three national titles. They banned the dunk after his freshman year because he was too dominant.
His high school teams went 79-2 and were considered the top team in the country two of the three years. They won 71 games in a row.
He graduated with a bachelors degree from UCLA and was probably denied coaching opportunities for being outspoken on social Justice issues. Whatever you think of his stances, that's a far cry from Jordan's (Republicans buy shoes too), and LeBron's (I love China) positions.
Simmons had him as number 3 in his book. And he doesnât like him.
@Packiderm posted:You can't compare players today with Jordan, Kareem, or Bird. Teams play shit defense nowadays with a few exceptions. It's like watching the All Star game every night or the Pro Bowl. The only thing keeping scoring down is teams jacking 3's all night and missing
When you advance deep into the playoffs, the defense ramps up big time. The Bucks played elite defense last year.
Jrue Holiday's defense on Chris Paul in the Finals (a top 5 point guard all-time) was unbelievable.
Giannis' block on Ayton in Game 4.
Giannis' 5 blocks in Game 6.
Draymond Green and Giannis would have clamped Bird down.
Bird wouldâve found a way. He always did.
@ilcuqui posted:Bird wouldâve found a way. He always did.
Pressey handled him very well quite often.
@ilcuqui posted:Bird wouldâve found a way. He always did.
It would be interesting to see how Bird would hold up on defense (Magic would have had the same challenge) the way the game is played right now. A guy like Kevin Love would have been an easy HOFer if he played in the 1980s, but he really has to work to stay on the floor on defense the current way the game is played. I think Bird and Magic would be the same way.
That 1986 Celtics team was one of the best of all time, but 4 of their top 6 guys were Bird, Parish, McHale, and Walton. I'm not sure how many of those guys could be on the floor in a 4th quarter of a playoff game because of problems with perimeter defense. Certainly not more than 2 of them at any time (and that's pushing it).
Some 80s/90s big guys would hold up now - Olajuwon, David Robinson, Karl Malone, Erving, obviously Jordan, Pippen, Barkley, Doctor J., Drexler. A younger Kareem would have also been fine.
But guys like Ewing, McHale, Parrish, and Moses Malone would have probably had trouble staying on the floor. They'd be like Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe types.
