Giannis Antetokounmpo was likely the 2018-19 NBA MVP after the season he had.
But in the postseason, particularly in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Toronto Raptors, he hasn’t quite reached that status even though he’s put together a 23.0 ppg, 14.0 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2.6 bpg, 1.0 spg line.
There are a few reasons for that. One of them is how Nick Nurse had handled defending the Greak Freak. He threw Kawhi Leonard, one of the NBA’s best defenders, at him. And that brings us to the first stat that’s eye-opening. The Ringer noted that after the Raps went down 0-2, Nurse called on Leonard to defend Antetokounmpo. The result?
Giannis is shooting 11-of-31 from the field (35.5 percent) in the 131 possessions when Kawhi has been his primary defender. He’s not making many plays for his teammates (four assists and five turnovers) or getting to the foul line (three made free throws), either.
The other stat involves the Freak getting to the hoop in the series. We all know he’s practically unstoppable when he drives, but that he’s still a work in progress when it comes to shooting from the outside. So clearly the Raptors are doing something right on the defensive end when they can get him to fire from deep:
As one of my colleagues noted in our group chat, that’s positively Ben Simmons-like.
