Top 100 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season, Part 2
2. The walking highlight reel that was Giannis Antetokounmpo
In the MVP debate, you really can’t go wrong between Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden. In the debate over who left their mark on the league this season, however, the answer remains divided.
While there’s no question the Beard submitted the most memorable performances, gaudy stat lines and unforgettable games, the Greek Freak was in a whole ‘nother category when it came to routine, ridiculous highlight plays that made fans simply shake their heads. It’s not even an exaggeration to say on a night-to-night basis, he was good for at least 2-3 highlight plays by himself.
Harden may be the most skilled offensive player in the league, but Giannis was undoubtedly its most unstoppable mismatch. It was impossible for big men to match his speed, handle or length that brought him to the basket in the blink of an eye. It was equally impossible for smaller players to stay with him because of his strength and absurd length.
His crossover was too low? Dunk. His first step was too quick? Dunk. Nobody stepped up to help? Dunk, then mean mug.
The unfair part was, even when Giannis wasn’t dunking, his touch around the rim was flawless. It was like giving Gumby the finger roll of George Gervin. Try and double-team him, and this human slinky could slither his way through it and still find jaw-dropping ways to finish.
He could spin past primary defenders or spin through help defenders and dunk. Give him a full head of steam and he could get to the rim in two dribbles from half-court for a dunk. Arrive too late in the paint and he was already dunking. Arrive on time, and he was still probably dunking, as poor Kosta Koufos found out before he was murdered via dunk:
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1059206152012083200
His length made him impossible to defend when he built any sort of momentum moving toward the basket. He could switch hands in midair. He could hang up there forever, or glide his way past defenders trying to contest his onslaught on the rim. All, usually, before a dunk.
Even when he caught to ball down low without a clear path, he could simply rise over his defender and dunk. His increased strength helped there, as he wasn’t afraid to body whatever obstacle lay in his path before rising up to embarrass it with — you guessed it! — a dunk.
He did it to Taj Gibson. He overpowered Blake Griffin in the same way. He got Boban too, and when Mike Muscala tried to play him physically all the way to the rim, he was destroyed for it. Bring help, like the Celtics did when they had him cornered on the baseline, or when two Cavaliers cut off his drive, and as Linkin Park would say, in the end, it didn’t even matter.
The most unfair addition to his game, however, was the implementation of the Euro-step when combined with that length, speed, handle, size, strength and leaping ability. It became his go-to move with a full head of steam when a defender was actually foolish enough to try and stick with him, or God forbid, block him.
He could do it in transition, whipping the ball over a defender’s head while cutting across them to the rim. He could do it through the teeth of a defense while finishing off the wrong foot. He could even do it when the defense brought reinforcements and tried to collapse around him.
And that’s to say nothing of his windmills on the fast break that could power the electricity of a third-world nation! Or what a terror he was on alley-oops! Or how he stole a rookie’s Christmas present in New York and then jammed it back through Madison Square Garden’s chimney!
From monster put-backs to above-the-rim rejections to everything in between, we haven’t seen a walking highlight factory like Giannis Antetokounmpo in … well, possibly ever.
(Seriously though, if you didn’t click at least 10 of those links and totally lose yourself in Greek Freak highlights, why are we even here?)