Giannis Antetokounmpo did nothing in the NBA Cup Finals on Tuesday night.
At the same time, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is doing a lot.
And therein lies the reason the Bucks go with the coveted hardware.
We are talking, of course, about the 3-point shot, where sometimes less is more. Just ask Giannis.
For some inexplicable reason, the unstoppable force would often drop the anchor and shoot its bulk. It earned him the distinction of being one of the worst 3-point shooters in NBA history.
Thank goodness for Russell Westbrook.
It wasn’t just the abysmal 28.2 percent success rate Antetokounmpo embarrassed himself with over the past 10 seasons. It was true that his 282 makes—in 1,727 attempts—were not a good shot.
We all know Giannis. The most powerful wrecking ball in the game today. Yes, that includes LeBron. It can get to the rim faster than most defenders realize to get out of the way.
But for years, Superman thought he was so powerful, he could go head over heels with kryptonite and win the war. He was wrong.
So Giannis did something few astronauts are willing to try: He listened.
The voices were loud and clear: Stop 3 shots.
For the most part, you still have. And he’s getting better. By simply removing the fat. Think about that.
It’s amazing that Giannis has only made 17 3-pointers in 23 games this season. It was 17 of 22 before he didn’t take the Thunder’s bait once in Tuesday’s contest.
It was the twelfth time this season that he did not send a prayer. Compare that to five years ago, a season in which he hit a total of 293 for 30.4 percent, when he only had three games all season where he didn’t test his luck.
He’s a new guy, and the Buckeyes are benefiting.
Now that he’s looking up to Giannis in the national MVP category, Gilegous-Alexander might be thinking the same red light.
Like his rival, SGA (did you realize that if Giannis ever had the guts, he could be Sir Giannis Antetokounmpo, or SGA for short?) … I digress. OKC’s SGA has also earned the right to do whatever it wants on the basketball court.
That doesn’t mean all is well.
The seventh-year pro is shooting a career-high 34.8 points on 3 percent. That’s not bad. And unlike Giannis, he’s never been below Westbrook’s dreaded shooting range (30 percent).
But SGA is nearly as unstoppable in the middle as any player in the NBA. Despite being just 6-foot-6 and living in and around the big man’s world, he made 58 percent of his two-pointers.
He did the math. OK I will. Like Giannis, who is a 63 percent two-point shooter this season, every time SGA hears “Go ahead and shoot,” and does so from beyond the arc, the stats scream: Bad shot.
Seniors looking to erase the 3-point streak or at least push it to Death Valley had a field day with SGA’s performance—and the Thunder’s overall shooting chart—in Tuesday’s loss. OKC went 5-for-32 from deep. Even Mario Mendoza can tell you: 5-for-32 is not good.
SGA gets the case. He wasted nine times. Two of them just entered.
Lucky for him, this 2-for-9 won’t go on his record. But he still has one in his log this season, along with 1-for-10, 2-for-10 and 1-for-6.
You put those together in a playoff series, and the Thunder, no matter what other weapons, will be out in the spring.
Despite the millions of fans Stephen Curry and Caitlin Clark have brought to the sport with their long-distance magic, Adam Silver is considering a change. The options seem limited.
Well, here’s one more:
Each game, the coach gets to give the libero jersey to one player on his team that he would like to keep from shooting the 3-pointer. When a guy starts beyond the arc, it’s an automatic turnover… you know, like when Westbrook takes a four and makes a play.
OK, maybe that’s a little harsh. So maybe the coach is just trying this in practice. I think the clown costume will convey a message that has fallen on deaf ears since the AAU coach preached: Keep shooting, son. It’s your ticket to the big time.
Think how much better this game would be if Westbrook, the special player, drove the hoop more, if Jayson Tatum focused on passing through the paint instead of going back and trying to pack three shots at a time, and if Jimmy Butler could take the rock to the rim for a game-tying hoop than a hero’s basketball from the arc in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
De’Aaron Fox, Marcus Smart and Jalen Green. Yes, you. DeMar DeRozan, Ja Morant and Draymond Green. You too. Imagine the level of success they could have if they were to go down Giannis’ path.
I’d even recommend TWO colored jerseys for the self-destructive Orlando Magic, a talented team that is falling out of the Eastern Conference as Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner bomb.
Then there is Victor Wembanyama, the Baby Face of the Game.
Somewhere in the Naismith book it must say: To be the best player of all time, you have to shoot three points. How else to explain that Wemby already has MISSED 390 in 92 career games?
Not them. I’m not sure what it means, but it sounds somewhat French. Maybe the “3’s” are wrong.
Maybe it was the message that saved Giannis. And maybe one Wemby can understand.
Heck, SGA is in Canada. Let’s try him.
Either that or be a libero.
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