So this clip is doing the rounds with Bucks’ fans:
Of course they cut out the part where Melo takes the ball straight from this “block” and scores a beautiful clean mid range getting nothing but net:
For starters, why was Giannis even on the floor? Khris wasn’t in the fourth quarter of a blowout. There was no point but of course Giannis always trying to stat pad, eh? And then you wonder why he is injured again? Here are the Bucks’ points in the fourth quarter of this loss.
I mention this because he still does it and he is again injured. This is a permanent problem with Giannis in the regular season, no basketball IQ. It is also clear in something else he still does.
Giannis doesn’t understand angles in defence. At this stage of the game, OKC are clearly not even trying since they are twenty points ahead. They are loading on the right side mainly due to boredom and lack of effort. So Melo goes 1on1 against Giannis who essentially gives him 1/3 of the court! And because he is playing like he is, no other defender is covering (for example against the spin move). Giannis is dangerous for everyone on the court. In the regular season most just try to stay safe and away from him. What you call “an amazing recovery” I call a dangerous explosion for no good reason. It truly is like playing with a ten year old.
Oh and of course it was goal tending! Here are the stats for last season, Giannis up there at 6th most goal tending whistles. (He gets away with some, like he got away with this one.)
And of course Giannis was squarely beaten by Melo overall in the game. Not just the Bucks losing but Melo had solidly better contributions.
Just to explain again, this is 100% goal tending. It doesn’t matter if it was still going up. Which it wasn’t. More like at the apex of the trajectory. But it is clearly over the cylinder of the rim, as per the rules.
Remember these camera angles are behind the basket so the ball is at least half over the rim cylinder.
But this isn’t even the worse regarding this clip. Because the Bucks promote it as proof of Giannis “amazing recovery speed”. But to summarise more objectively:
- Giannis was on the court for no good reason in a blowout loss.
- He fouled Melo multiple times before all this.
- He was playing defense all wrong one on one leaving 1/3 of the court free.
- Melo did a beautiful move on him that worked.
- Giannis clearly committed goal tending.
- Melo scored anyway.
And THIS is paraded as a clip where we should be admiring Giannis? Do you all realize the damage you do to him like this? It is as if the entire basketball world treats Giannis like a spoilt child to whom nobody tells the truth.
And now it is all falling apart because – as the Greek saying goes – “lies have short legs”.
