Giannis is taking over the NBA, one playoff game at a time

MILWAUKEE — More than any young player in the game today, Giannis Antetokounmpo is staking his claim as the Next One in the great player lineage. He not only possesses the requisite combination of awesome talent and extreme competitiveness, he also has the rare gift of an easy, unforced charisma.

Antetokounmpo exudes both joy and unrelenting passion in his work. There is nothing dour about his persona, no great weight of the world resting upon his broad shoulders. Perhaps that’s still to come. Or perhaps we are witnessing his take over in real time with events happening too fast to even put it into proper context.

Consider Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, which was over a few minutes after it began. On the game’s first possession, Antetokounmpo rebounded his own miss and threw down a vicious two-handed dunk. On the second, he blocked Toronto’s Marc Gasol into oblivion. On the third, Giannis got loose for yet another dunk. And a few plays later, he kicked it out to Nikola Mirotic for a wide-open 3-pointer.

Over four possessions in the span of two and half minutes, Giannis imposed his will on the game and left no doubt that the Bucks were heading to Toronto with a 2-0 series lead. He showed it all in those opening minutes: the rim-rattling dunks, the imposing deterrent at the basket, and the crafty passing that has taken his game to an entirely new level.

“To script those first three possessions — and the blocked shot, to me, is the one that stands out,” said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think when Giannis is active and protecting the paint, protecting the rim — he plays so hard. He lays it all on the line all the time.”

That, right there, is the essence of Giannis. He is not waiting his turn or asking for permission. Instead, he is taking this postseason and making it his own. Just as he did during the regular season when he led the Bucks to the best record in the league en route to what looks like the first of many Most Valuable Player seasons.

In the aftermath of yet another tour-de-force performance that featured 30 points, 17 rebounds, and five assists there was still a feeling that we still haven’t seen the best of what he can offer. Like, this dude is only scratching the surface of a potential so vast that it belies description or even categorization.

“I’m beyond fortunate to have Giannis,” Budenholzer said. “He’s incredible, and then you’re like, I think he can be even better. The great part about Giannis is he wants to be better. We’re coaching him and we’re on him. We think he can be doing more, and he just soaks it up. It’s just so unique to have a player like that that just wants to be great and you feel like he has more, and yet he’s been phenomenal. You can’t say enough good things about Giannis.”

Throughout NBA history there has been a well established protocol for any young player seeking to ascend to the pantheon of the immortals. First, there is the phenom stage when everyone marvels at the talent and dreams impossible dreams. Giannis enjoyed an extended version of this honeymoon phase because he arrived before us so raw, and so unknown.

Then, there is the reckoning, when playoff disappointments are tabulated and the challenge reveals itself. That’s where weaknesses are magnified and improvements become mandatory.

This is the path that Michael Jordan and LeBron James took. For MJ, it was developing a post game and learning to trust his teammates. For LeBron, it was adding a jump shot and understanding the proper balance between facilitating and domination.

On rare occasions, the struggle comes after the validation. Think Magic Johnson filling in for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a rookie and leading the Lakers past the 76ers in the 1980 Finals. Or Larry Bird winning a championship in his second season. Both players had to deal with post-championship fallout before reaching their prime years.

Antetokounmpo lies at the crossroads of those two journeys. Having absorbed the lessons of three first-round exits in the relative anonymity of low-key expectations, his Bucks are now two wins away from reaching the Finals. It’s a sudden turn of events that’s actually six years in the making, but it’s still staggering to consider how far he’s come in his career.

A setback, even at this stage, would set him on the familiar course established by LeBron and MJ. Winning it all would cast his trajectory into unchartered territory. However you want to frame it, Giannis has arrived as a force to be reckoned with for the next decade.

His emergence comes at a pivotal time for the league as it transitions from what could be the final act of the Warrior dynasty along with the latter stages of LeBron’s career. If these playoffs were first shrouded in uncertainty without LeBron’s immense star power, they have instead turned into a showcase for Antetokounmpo’s sublime gifts.

His talent is as undeniable as it is evolutionary. Like LeBron, he can do things that players his size would have never even considered, let alone attempted. Whether it’s getting to the basket with two giant strides from the mid-court line or flying in for a chasedown block, Giannis is good for a handful of transcendent players each night that leave you shaking your head in awe.

As Toronto’s Pascal Siakam put it, “Giannis is Giannis. I don’t think there’s anybody like him.”

What has separated him this postseason is his patience. Still just 24 years old, he plays with a poise and purpose that belies his age and experience. Consider the obvious hole in his game, which is the lack of a reliable jump shot. That may still come, and when it does, “We’re f--ked,” as a scout put it before the game. And by ‘we,’ he means the whole league.

Yet, Giannis has come up with a counter, which is reading the defense and making the right play. With shooters spread all over the court, his ability and willingness to kick it to open teammates out of double and triple teams is just as effective as doing it all himself. In fact, it’s even better since it involves every one of his teammates who have proven to be elite role players.

Some of Antetokounmpo’s most impressive work during the playoffs has come from elevating others. One night it’s Brook Lopez. The next it’s Malcolm Brogdon or Ersan Ilyasova. Playing with Giannis is a Podium Game waiting to happen for whoever has the hot hand. That’s the genius of the Bucks roster, and that was the message Coach Bud imparted to him before the season.

“That’s one of the things that Bud told me the first time we met,” Antetokounmpo said. “He told me, ‘You can be good. We know that. But how can we make your teammates be effective?’”

After the Bucks only loss of the postseason against Boston, Giannis set the tone by not taking the bait and trying to do it all by himself. Instead, he made the right passes and his teammates thrived. In the opener of the Eastern Conference finals, his 24-and-14 seemed ordinary by his standards. Yet, his effort was underscored by an understanding that trying to do too much would be detrimental to his team’s performance.

“This is the beauty of basketball,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is the beauty of our team, that we trust one another.”

And then there’s the competitiveness. Tales of his late night workouts are legendary, so much so that Budenholzer noted off handedly that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he toned some of it down and allowed his body more time to rest and recover. There’s a balance that comes with age, but Giannis has the one thing you can’t teach, which is internal drive.

“It’s elite,” Budenholzer said. “There’s a lot of good players. There’s a lot of talent in this league. I think there’s a lot of great competitors in this league. And then there’s others that competitiveness just is on that next level. And it just stands out to you when you talk to him, when you watch him work and practice. He wants to win. And the great thing about him is, I think he’s happy when his teammates succeed. He’s happy when others are playing well, and he just — he’s all about winning.”

He’s all about winning.

Those four words are the ultimate compliment in this league. Beyond the glitz and glamour, it’s that drive to win that separates the great talents from the truly elite. This is what Giannis is delivering night after night and this is what we’ve come to expect. It’s all happening right now before our very eyes. Ready or not, the future of the league is here and he’s not waiting his turn.

“This is just one more positive chip at this point, and if Anthony Davis is trying to decide if he can trust if we can build a winner, I hope we can build evidence of that day after day. And if AD wants to be part of that, wonderful. And if he doesn’t buy into what we’re trying to do, that’s okay too. This isn’t something for me that’s answered in a conversation. The answer is revealed over a period of time.”

—David Griffin after the Pelicans landed the top pick.

Reaction: Count me among those who will be shocked if Griff can convince AD to sign that supermax extension, but if winning the lottery moves the needle ever so slightly then it’s worth trying.

“I can’t remember. When he had 33 in the second half, were they trapping then? They were? And he scored 33 in the second half? OK. Yeah, we’ll look at that.”

—Blazers coach Terry Stotts

Reaction: Terry Stotts has wrung solid defensive teams during his tenure by dropping his big man into the paint and taking away the rim. That doesn’t work against Steph Curry. Stotts is no fool and he adjusted his coverages in Game 2.

“I talk about it all the time, so I blame you guys for not exposing it more. I don’t know. I think Klay gets lost in the shuffle a little bit around here just because we’ve got Steph and K.D., two MVPs, past MVPs. Draymond gets a lot of attention, as he should. He’s an All-Star player, and he’s kind of the emotional heartbeat of our team. Klay just kind of blends in sometimes. But you ask any coach around the league, he’s one of the most respected players in the game because of his ability to play both ends.”

—Golden State coach Steve Kerr on Klay Thompson

Reaction: Kerr has a point. There have been times over the years when I’ve had a vote — whether it’s for All-Star or All-NBA or All-Defense — when I’ve thought about Klay and then voted for someone else whose impact seems a little bit greater because they don’t have so much talent around them. Honestly, that does him a great disservice.

“When they got Draymond with the ball in his hands and Steph and Klay moving around, coming off screens, you got to go to the ball because those guys shoot so well and once Draymond gets it, somebody has to step up and he’s great about making the next play. You know, one guy is getting a lot of attention and you’ve got to find somebody who can get the ball and then make the next play because it’s basically four-on-three. He’s just really good at it.”

—Portland guard Damian Lillard.

Reaction: My favorite thing about the playoffs has been the resurrection of the Steph-Draymond pick-and-roll. Obligatory note that enjoying the way the Warriors play without Kevin Durant does not make them ‘better’ without KD.

“I think you have to as a player. You know, we can’t sit and look over our shoulder and say, “Hey, man, when is K going to be back.” We just got to play with whatever we got.”

—Draymond Green on Kevin Durant’s absence.

Reaction: Players are way better than everyone else at contextualizing things like injuries and not worrying about them. Seems like a good life lesson.

It’s been a while since a lottery affected the course of NBA history the way this one did. Here are five thoughts on the ping pong balls, or whatever it is they use now.

In addition to being an astute executive, David Griffin has a lock on lottery luck. He’s been with teams that grabbed the top overall pick in 2011, 2013, 2014, and now 2019. OK, so one of those picks became legendary bust Anthony Bennett, but Griff used those other choices to draft Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins (who he turned into Kevin Love.) There’s been some talk about how the Pels don’t deserve the top pick since they squandered Anthony Davis’ first years, but that’s not how this works?

The Grizzlies took some heat from the basketball nihilism wing for actually trying down the stretch. Turns out that effort was rewarded with the second overall pick. Take that nihilists! That choice should be Murray State phenom Ja Morant. That, in turn, will make trading Mike Conley a little bit easier to justify. Good for the Grizz. Tanking is overrated. Trying is good for the soul.

It’s very New York to be disappointed with only getting the third pick in a lottery in which Phoenix and Cleveland tumbled out of the top four. Sure, missing out on a chance to draft Zion Williamson is a tough beat, but the Knicks will still have control over the draft once Zion and Morant go 1-2. Considering Memphis won’t get into the Anthony Davis sweepstakes, the Knicks have the best trade asset in this draft. Is that enough to get AD? Maybe, maybe not, but it might get you someone else, should you decide to move the pick. The Knicks have options. That’s a good thing!

Los Angeles went into this draft looking at a late lottery choice and wound up with the fourth pick. That gives them four top-four picks in the last five years, which should have been enough to construct a vibrant young roster. They messed up with D’Angelo Russell and arguably goofed by going with Lonzo Ball over Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox. (It’s early yet, so we’ll reserve full judgment.) The larger issue is that developing young talent doesn’t go hand-in-hand with an enjoyable LeBron James experience. So, what it will be? Feels like a decision is necessary.

By leveling out the odds at the top of the lottery, the NBA gave less of an incentive for teams to tank. And by expanding the draw to the top four picks, it allowed for a team like the Lakers to move up to four providing a further degree of volatility. We’ll never have a perfect system, but this was an improvement on the old way of doing things. Hooray for progress.