Giannis Antetokounmpo Broke The Celtics, And Maybe Basketball, In Game 3
BOSTON — “I’m not sure anyone else in the world can do what Giannis does,” Pat Connaughton said.
The 26-year-old is surrounded by reporters who want the Bucks guard born six miles northwest of Boston to say something interesting about beating his hometown team. Connaughton had 14 points and seven boards in a 123-116 Game 3 win to give Milwaukee a 2-1 series lead over the Celtics. But he’s not interested in the local angle. He’s talking about spacing the floor and letting the best basketball player in the Eastern Conference, and probably the NBA this season, do whatever the hell he wants to.
“Giannis was playing his game,” Connaughton said. “It’s on us as his teammates to make sure we get to our spots so the floor can be spaced for him.”
It’s an unremarkable statement, but giving Giannis his space was the theme of a number of Bucks players’ postgame interviews, which took place while Antetokounmpo iced his feet in a mop bucket in the two lockers closest to the locker room showers. Eric Bledsoe mentioned letting Giannis play his game. Everyone deferred to Antetokounmpo and what he can do. And it was actually a little frustrating that no one could completely express what exactly Antetokounmpo did on Friday night to score 32 points in the win.
Perhaps that’s because there was no signature moment in this one for Giannis Antetokounmpo on Friday. He didn’t leap over an opponent or break a backboard or really do anything that made someone not watching turn toward the television as the announcer’s voice raised. What he was, though, was relentless, the force of nature that’s made him the odds-on favorite for league MVP at age 24.