Basically, every great player has a story from when they used to be a fan, before they met their heroes. Often, they have more than one. But last night gave reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks an opportunity to share one of his stories as a youngster, watching the game in the streets of Athens and watching the 2012 NBA Finals between LeBron James’ Miami Heat and Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
Giannis told the story of watching games outside of an Athens betting house that showed the games on screens that faced the streets and being inspired by Kevin Durant and rooting for him against LeBron in 2012.
The 2012 Finals are a forgotten classic, mostly because it only went five games, but the quality of play was incredible. I’m currently on Game 4 of my 2012 Finals rewatch and Durant really was great, while Russell Westbrook had a couple of huge moments too, but the Thunder just happened to run into a LeBron that had experienced the Finals before and knew exactly what he needed to do, while also being surrounded by the right supporting players and a true second star in Dwyane Wade.
