Greek Freak on fire
By Guillaume Mahot
In the very particular world of the NBA, where individual performances often tend to take over a more collective vision of things, a few players are more successful than others. While Carmelo Anthony, who actually stands for pure individualism over the last few years he spent in Denver, New York, Oklahoma and Houston, finally found back a franchise (the Portland Trail Blazers) after more than one year without playing, most current NBA stars are answering all expectations and completing incredible statistics. Take for instance the 46 points scored by James Harden lately. In this cold world of figures, running out of emotions sometimes, MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo still has something to say.
The Greek All-Star, Nigerian roots, seems to be fully determined to dream bigger with the Milwaukee Bucks this year after the deception in finals of East Conference in the last season against the Toronto Raptors (2-4). Defeating the Chicago Bulls last night was not the most difficult mission for the Wisconsin franchise last night (124-115), but it was nearly an obligation to follow Boston’s crazy pace (only one defeat out of ten games for the C’s), leading the East Conference.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 38 points in 36 minutes on the court and caught 16 rebounds. His point guard Eric Bledsoe added up 31 points and 8 assists while Wesley Matthews (15 points) and Brook Lopez (13 points, 6 rebounds) compensated Khris Middleton’s absence. The Bucks, ranking third in the East, have a comfortable victory rate (72%) at equality with Miami and Toronto. For the time being, they are perfectly digesting Malcolm Brogdon’s transfer to the Pacers, and new players like Kyle Korver and Robin Lopez systematically bring something while on the court, even though they do not always play much (11 minutes for both players last night, with 6 points scored by each).
In the very long regular season (83 games), suspense does not prevail for teams like the Bucks, who should, unless a bunch of injuries, be present for the next playoffs. Confidence and collective alchemy must be optimized for the games that count, and this is done quite well at the moment.
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