Milwaukee Bucks: How Does Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Playoff Play Rank In Franchise History?

Even though the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in the first round, some of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s stats already place him in some of the franchise’s more exclusive clubs.

As the Milwaukee Bucks fell to the Toronto Raptors and were eliminated in Game 6 of their first round playoff series on Thursday, there was one positive for them to take away that was bigger than all others.

As most had expected, the playoff experience didn’t faze Giannis Antetokounmpo in the slightest.

The young Greek star may have had his occasional struggles during the series, but he eventually managed to adjust to the adjustments the Raptors had made specifically for him, and deliver the kind of gaudy stats the wider NBA now expects from him.

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All of this puts the Bucks on a course for much deeper runs in the future, and Antetokounmpo in line for countless future individual accolades, but what does it mean in the here and now?

In the context of Milwaukee Bucks history, Antetokounmpo’s play in this year’s first round series has already seen him join some very exclusive Bucks playoff clubs.

Although there’s plenty more to come, and as the years go on the focus will obviously shift to his wins rather than any individual numbers, for now let’s look at just how Giannis’ 2017 playoff campaign compares to the play of some of Milwaukee’s greats of years gone by.

*Editor’s note: Steals and blocks weren’t first recorded in the NBA until 1973-74*

Doing It All

With playoff averages of 24.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, Giannis Antetokounmpo showed his ability to excel in a high pressure environment with meaningful contributions across three of the most notable traditional counting stats.

At this point, it’s not news to Bucks fans that Giannis can do a little bit of everything, but actually executing on that in a playoff series puts him in very elite company.

Only three players in franchise history have ever managed to go through a playoff campaign for the Bucks averaging over 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists per game. In passing those marks this season, Giannis joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Marques Johnson, who achieved that feat as Bucks three and two times respectively.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/29/2017.

It’s worth noting that Giannis’ six games was the least any Bucks who has achieved those stats has managed in a postseason, highlighting the biggest step for Antetokounmpo now being to start winning playoff series.

In the Greek’s favor, he’s the youngest player to record these numbers in the postseason for the Bucks, as Kareem turned 23 in the final days of Milwaukee’s 1970s run.

Defensive Stopper

Giannis’ length and versatility makes him an incredibly versatile and dangerous weapon for the Bucks on the defensive end, and he’s already channeling that into very tangible plays that are turning games in his team’s favor.

Throughout the series with the Raptors, Giannis created havoc with his length in the passing lanes, while he made a number of notable blocks which included game changers on DeMar DeRozan in Games 1 and 6.

In Bucks history, this ability to make notable defensive plays at that volume in the playoffs has been mostly absent, so Antetokounmpo’s 2.2 steals and 1.7 blocks certainly stands out. Only one other Buck has ever averaged over 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game in the postseason, and that was journeyman forward Brad Lohaus.

Lohaus was an unlikely starter for the Bucks in the 1990 playoffs as he’d start less than 20 percent of the games he played throughout his career, but he certainly made his postseason run count defensively on that occasion.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/29/2017.

Extending beyond any Bucks comparison, Giannis achieving such impressive defensive numbers so early into his career puts him in even loftier company league-wide.

Only Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon can claim to also have averaged over 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks for a playoff campaign at or before the age of 23.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/30/2017.

Efficiency and Effort

Another undoubtedly notable element of Antetokounmpo’s playoff contribution was the way in which he carried so much of the burden for his team, and yet managed to do so while scoring efficiently.

With the inevitable increased minutes load that comes for a star player in the playoffs, and the extra defensive attention that accompanies it, it’s common for even some of the best players to take more shots than usual to get their points in the postseason.

While playing a significant 40.5 minutes per game for the Bucks in their series with the Raptors, Antetokounmpo still managed to counter occasional struggles and post a stellar field goal percentage of 53.1 percent.

Only five other Bucks have managed to shoot over 50 percent from the field for a playoffs while playing 40 minutes or more.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/29/2017.

While Kareem did it for more sustained runs, outside of Abdul-Jabbar nobody could match the feat while playing more games than the Greek did, and unsurprisingly Giannis was again the youngest Buck to ever hit those marks playing playoff basketball.

Taking Control

In line with many of the numbers already discussed up until this point, something that’s not up for debate about Giannis’ postseason effort is the way in which he seized total control of his team.

Having posted a career-high usage rate of 28.3 percent for the 2016-17 regular season, Antetokounmpo saw even more of the Bucks plays go through him in the playoffs when that number increased to 30 percent.

The list of Bucks who’ve managed to be at the center of so much of what their team has done, while also making a varied and sizable contribution across the box score is incredibly rare.

If we measure Giannis’ overall contribution using Box Plus/Minus (BPM), the Greek posted a rating of 6.0 for his team’s six games with the Raptors. Of any Buck who has played more than 10 minutes per game with a usage of 25 percent or higher during the playoffs, Antetokounmpo is the only one who can be charted with a BPM of 6.0 or higher.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/29/2017.

This is only still the beginning of Antetokounmpo’s playoff journey, and obviously in the longer term the most important stat will become series and possibly even championship wins. For now though, Giannis is already setting himself apart from great Bucks of years past.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks: 5 Takeaways From Series Loss To Toronto Raptors

With his abilities, there’s no reason to believe that Giannis can’t go down as one of the best players the franchise has ever seen, and the early returns certainly don’t give any reason to believe otherwise.