Giannis Antetokounmpo Continues To Make History For The Bucks
There doesn’t appear to be an end to the things Giannis Antetokounmpo can do on a basketball court, as he continues to make history for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is incredible. But you already knew that. The Greek Freak has the Milwaukee Bucks sitting on top of the NBA world and on their way to making history–both individually and as a team.
Milwaukee is on pace to become just the third team in NBA history to win at least 70 games in a season. If they keep their 86.3 win percentage going they’ll find themselves with about 70.7 wins at the end of the year. That seems sustainable if it weren’t for the fact Milwaukee will be playing mostly meaningless basketball over the final month or so.
At 44-7, the Bucks’ magic number to clinch a spot in the playoffs is six. They have a real chance to do so before the All-Star break next week and that would be the earliest in NBA history.
The Bucks have a deep team with two legitimate All-Stars, but they go as Antetokounmpo goes. That is to say, they go hard every night.
Antetokounmpo continues to flex on the rest of the league and we saw that once again on Thursday night. Facing the Philadelphia 76ers for the first time since they embarrassed the Greek Freak on National Television on Christmas Day, Antetokounmpo got his revenge. He dropped 36 points, 20 rebounds and six assists on their heads.
It turned out to be a historic stat line. Antetokounmpo became the first player to record at least 35 points, 20 rebounds, and five assists in a game for the Bucks since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did in 1974 according to Justin Kubatko of Statmuse.
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Kubatko also reports Antetokounmpo’s 22 career games with at least 30 points, 15 rebounds and five assists is the third-most since the ABA-NBA merger. Only Charles Barkley (32) and Larry Bird (24) have more. The next highest active NBA player is Russell Westbrook with 11. It was also Antetokounmpo’s fifth-straight game hitting those minimums–making him the first player to do so since Wilt Chamberlain in 1965.
When your constantly putting his name alongside the likes of Kareem and Wilt, you know he’s doing something right. We don’t know how long this will last, and hopefully, it’s just the beginning.