Giannis Antetokounmpo was looking forward to finishing with a triple-double at the Bucks’ visit to Washington’s Capital One Arena. With the Bucks winning 111-117 with just a few seconds left, the Wizards gave up and just let the game die, at which point the Greek, who had 23 points, 13 assists and had just grabbed his ninth rebound, decided it was time to round up his stat sheet. He crossed the court, walked to the rival basket and missed on purpose to grab his own rebound and sign his fourth triple-double of the course.
The one from Milwaukee had at least the decency to cross into the rival field, something that Rick Barry did not have in 2003, who tried to do the same but throwing the ball against his own basket. On that occasion, however, the Cavaliers did not get away with it, as the shot and the rebound were canceled by the scorers’ table.
Regardless of the anecdote, Giannis scored or assisted 25 of the Bucks’ 34 points in the fourth quarter, and that was where the greatness of his game lay, much more than the fact of adding 9 or 10 rebounds. The idea of basing the narratives and opinions more on numbers than on analysis and sensations has generated a certain obsession with statistics, but the truth is that Antetokounmpo’s match would have been just as good whether or not he did the triple-double. And he should know it.
(Cover photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
