Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antikonmo on Phoenix Suns defense designed to slow him down

[ad_1]

4:39 p.m. ET

Tim Bontemps

Milwaukee — After dominating the first three games of the NBA Finals, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is expected to do the same in Game Four Wednesday night, as he and his teammates in the series hope for the Phoenix Suns.

Phoenix, like any other team facing Antetokounmpo, will attempt to isolate the edge in an effort to keep the two-time NBA MVP at bay—something the Suns have never succeeded in through three games (Game 4, 9 p.m. ET Wednesday, ABC).

Antetokounmpo on Tuesday marveled at the fact that teams are now building tailored defenses to try to slow him down, just a few years after he entered the NBA as a gritty teenager with an unknown playing cap.

“The first time I saw the wall was probably two years ago,” Antetokounmpo said after Tuesday’s training. “But I’ve always been able to pass before. It’s something I’ve always loved to do. I’ve had coaches and people throughout my career who have helped me find the right guy, find the right pass, do the right pass. But as soon as I had I started seeing the wall, since Two years, and now it’s almost all about confidence, which is kind of hard, because you want to be efficient, you want to go downhill, you want to do everything.

“And you take it personally too. There’s a team building a wall of three people and two men behind you and trying to stop you. Now you have to not take it personally and play right, find the right guy. I feel like I did it better two years ago…but I was Always passers-by is able before the wall is built. [It] It’s funny that there is a defense called the Giannis Wall. That’s funny to me, you know? “

2 related

It wasn’t too funny for the Suns, who watched Antetokounmpo erupt through their defenses and come to the edge over and over again. He’s one of four players — along with Hall of Famers Rick Barry, Allen Iverson, and Shaquille O’Neal — to have scored at least 100 points in their first three NBA Finals games. Antetokounmpo has also scored over 40 points and 10 rebounds in each of the last two games.

Phoenix threw every possible option at him, from center DeAndre Ayton to forwards Jae Crowder, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, with little change in terms of Antetokounmpo’s attacking ability. After the Suns physically took the game to them in Milwaukee’s Game 3 win, it’s easy to expect Phoenix to try to take the initiative to make Antetokounmpo’s life more difficult in Game 4.

“They took it to us,” Suns coach Monty Williams said on Tuesday. “There’s no other way to look at it. They played very hard – 50/50 balls, attacking the paint. We had rushes in playing the way we play, but it definitely wasn’t as consistent as we need it to be. I think I said that that day, since our first possession of the game, we’ve had a bad defensive transition and they get a third corner kick in the transition.

“It was a credit to them. They played with a lot of energy and were physical. We were physical, but they were physical from the jump. The more I looked at it, it seemed like I was just sitting here making excuses about what we didn’t do and all that, but they played at a high level.” And lofty.”

Antetokounmpo, in particular, attacked relentlessly. He took 17 shots himself in Game 3 – compared to 16 for the Suns as a whole, which Williams noted after Sunday’s game.

“Someone asked me the question, so I answered,” Williams said Tuesday about making the point. “And then the free throw disparity is what it is. And that’s what I did. They had one free throw player 17, and we had 16.

“This is not a complaint. This clarifies the facts.”

When Antetokounmpo was asked about the discrepancy between teams – and its impact on them – he claimed he didn’t know such a discussion was taking place, saying he didn’t care about social media.

But he came up with his own facts about whether he earns those trips to the free-throw line.

“I think I’m taking a good hit there. I have a scratch here and I scratch right here,” said Antetokonmo with a smile, pointing to his forehead and nose, before adding with a laugh. Ugly beautiful face.

“But that’s what it is. I’m just trying to focus on what I have to do and how I can help my team to be successful. That’s all I’m going to put my energy into.”

Part of how this happens is to keep going, around and through the walls that the sun sets to stop it. Antetokounmpo has received criticism over time for his penchant for taking in too many jumpers, rather than attacking the edge, and his weaknesses at the free-throw line.

But he said all he could do was stick to the mantras he said over and over during his press conferences — to compete as hard as he could, and enjoy the experience as much as you could — and let the chips fall into place.

“You have to take it as a compliment,” Antitokonmo said of defenses specifically designed to try to slow him down. “You always have to find the fun factor in everything. In that, in the free throw,” 1, 2, 3, 4 [when opposing fans are counting how long he takes to shoot], what ever.

“You always have to find the fun factor. So yeah, it’s a compliment that there should be three people up front stopping me from getting into the paint and building that wall.”

The only people who hate him the most are the ones who hope he succeeds.

“No matter how it’s scored, it does. Do you know what I mean?” Chris Paul said. “He goes down there, dunks, dunks more and shoots the ball. So that’s what it is. I think you have to find a way to stop it. We have to try to find a way to slow it down for us, slow it down or not.” [about winning] the game.

“Win the match. I don’t care what the stat sheet looks like after the match. Win the match. For him, I mean he’s twice the best player, so we have to treat him like that.”

.

[ad_2]