{"id":706,"date":"2025-03-05T07:34:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T07:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/?p=706"},"modified":"2025-03-05T07:34:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T07:34:58","slug":"just-how-bad-can-giannis-be-and-still-get-accolades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/2025\/03\/05\/just-how-bad-can-giannis-be-and-still-get-accolades\/","title":{"rendered":"Just how bad can Giannis be? (and still get accolades)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyway you look at this shot chart it is truly pathetic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Giannis missed open lay ups against a team that had nobody to guard him. He was playing on his own most of the time and still missed them. And what about this famous mid range? Even with no defence <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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he got nothing. Don’t even start me with the three points. Sure, you have to keep trying and an easy game like this may be a good opportunity but this is simply ludicrous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow everyone still treats him like the hero though!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His box score isn’t really much better. 50% field goal percentage, 0% from three and his usual terrible free throw shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And people still chant MVP???? As usual he had the ball in his hand more than anyone despite not playing more minutes. This is terrible any way you slice it yet Bucks’ fans are ecstatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Giannis finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, shooting 9-of-18 from the field in 33 minutes. On the surface, those numbers scream dominance, but dig deeper, and the cracks show. His scoring output, while solid, was inefficient for a player of his caliber against a Hawks defense that ranks among the league\u2019s worst, allowing 119.6 points per game. Going 9-for-18\u2014barely over 50%\u2014is underwhelming when you consider Giannis\u2019s season field goal percentage hovers around 60.5%. Against a team struggling to stop anyone in the paint, he should\u2019ve been feasting, not settling for a pedestrian 52.9% shooting night. He left points on the table, and for a Bucks squad aiming to assert dominance in the East, that\u2019s a red flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s the rebounding. \u03a4he Bucks got crushed on the glass early, especially in the second quarter when Atlanta flipped a deficit into a lead with a 17-9 run fueled by second-chance opportunities. Giannis, with his size and athleticism, should\u2019ve owned the boards against a Hawks frontcourt missing key pieces like Jalen Johnson and Clint Capela. Instead, he let Brook Lopez (13 rebounds) carry the load, which is fine for team ball but exposes a lack of assertiveness from the superstar in a game where Milwaukee\u2019s interior presence should\u2019ve been overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bucks\u2019 offense stalled late, tied at 121 with just over a minute left, and Giannis\u2019s decision-making faltered. He had a dunk attempt blocked by Atlanta\u2019s Garrison Gueye, leading to a Caris LeVert three that knotted the score. That\u2019s not just a defensive miscue by the Hawks\u2014it\u2019s a failure by Giannis to finish strong or adjust to the help defense. A player of his experience should\u2019ve either powered through or kicked it out to an open shooter like Damian Lillard (23 points) instead of forcing a play that got stuffed. The Bucks won thanks to clutch plays from Lopez and Lillard, not because Giannis took control when it mattered most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defensively, Giannis was solid but not suffocating. Trae Young dropped 28 points and 13 assists, carving up Milwaukee\u2019s defense with ease at times. Giannis, often touted as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, didn\u2019t disrupt Young enough to throw Atlanta\u2019s offense off track. The Hawks shot 48.9% from the field and stayed in the game far longer than they should\u2019ve against a Bucks team with a top-tier defensive rating. Giannis\u2019s presence in the paint deterred some drives, but his impact felt muted against a guard-heavy attack that he\u2019s capable of shutting down when fully locked in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the minutes restriction\u2014capped at around 32-33 minutes due to a lingering calf strain\u2014might explain some of this, but it doesn\u2019t excuse it entirely. If Giannis is on the floor, he\u2019s expected to dominate, not coast. The Bucks needed this win to stay sharp in a tight Eastern Conference race, and while they got it, Giannis\u2019s performance was more workmanlike than transcendent. Against a depleted Hawks team on the second night of a back-to-back, this should\u2019ve been a blowout, not a four-point squeaker. Giannis got the stat line, but he didn\u2019t impose his will the way a two-time MVP should, leaving fans and analysts alike wondering why he didn\u2019t bury Atlanta when he had the chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyway you look at this shot chart it is truly pathetic: Giannis missed open lay ups against a team that had nobody to guard him. He was playing on his own most of the time and still missed them. And what about this famous mid range? Even with no defence he got nothing. Don’t even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[20,56,57,82,93,120],"class_list":["post-706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-postgameeval","tag-basketball","tag-giannis","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bucks-vs-hawks-giannis-fail.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":714,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions\/714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekinter.net\/giannis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}