Last night against the Los Angeles Lakers, Giannis Antetokounmpo made five of his eight attempted three point shots. To those of you who don’t follow the NBA closely, this may not seem like a big deal, but let me assure you, this is a monumental moment.
The fact that Giannis even tried eight triples, let alone made five of them, should be worrying enough for the league. The Greek Freak is already unguardable, the only break that defenders really got with him was when Antetokounmpo was out behind the arc.
Some people may feel or think that this game against the Lakers is just a one off, if you look back to his previous game against the Mavericks we can see that he only made one of his six attempts, more of what we would expect. However taking a look at this season overall, Giannis is already making three point shots at a higher rate than we have ever seen.
Through his first six seasons in the league Giannis only made three pointers at an above .300 clip twice. In both of those seasons he made around 40 three point shots over the course of the entire year. So far in 2019/20, he has already made 49 long range shots and is making them at the highest rate we’ve ever seen from him.
Giannis is unstoppable
If the Greek Freak can sustain this for the rest of the season it will add a dynamic to the Bucks that we have been waiting to see for the last couple of years. The biggest issue the Bucks have faced during the playoffs is spacing, as teams slow down in the post season and begin to run more half court sets. It feels wrong to say that it becomes easier to guard Giannis in the postseason, lets just say it become slightly less impossible.
However if he, as it appears, is beginning to develop a legitimate three point shot, that changes everything. It means that teams can no longer afford to leave him slightly less guarded on the perimeter, being forced to close him out as soon as he begins to approach the arc, leaving a gap for him to drive inside.
The NBA should be worried. Giannis is able to defeat duos such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis without a star partner of his own, who else can do that?
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