Hope swept across Milwaukee Bucks fans going into Game 5 as the Bucks battled back to knot up the series at 2 going into Tuesday night.
And as the Brooklyn Nets have gotten even more hobbled with the injuries to James Harden and Kyrie Irving, the path had opened up for the Bucks to really turn this series on its head and get past mighty Brooklyn on their home floor. Unfortunately, Kevin Durant and the Nets had alternative plans as they came back to take a 114-108 victory and Game 5 was lost in the final, excruciating moments. Another heartbreaker for fans where a new hope was shattered once again.
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After an ugly second half collapse like the Bucks endured in Game 5, blame lies at the feet of everyone on the Bucks’ roster as well as coaching staff.
Yet, as a Bucks fan, I could not help contrasting the two team superstars between the Bucks and Nets: Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Specifically, the agonizing talent difference between the two, especially in the fourth quarter of Game 5. The difference was stark.
Durant got whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Smoothly dribbling through the defense, pulling up for 3-points shots or taking it to the rim and getting fouled. As a basketball fan, it was poetry in motion. Durant has multiple go-to moves and also was passing the ball with precision when the Bucks defense predicated he pass the ball. His double clutch three with less than a minute left and two seconds on the shot clock was both gut-wrenching and mystifying to see.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s limitations have been plain to see in the Milwaukee Bucks’ series against the Nets
On the other hand, Antetokounmpo was more indecisive in the pressure-packed fourth quarter. He missed free throws. He was not sure where to go with the basketball when he got walled up and he dribbled up the court time and time again and played isolation offense as the Bucks have largely done throughout this series. The cherry on top was when Giannis dropped the touch pass from Middleton as the Bucks looked to tie the game near the end and it all proved to be an incredibly painful.
I wrote earlier this year about the gift of Giannis Antetokounmpo. As Bucks fans, we get to watch this player through his twenties — his prime years. He is a two-time MVP and this year was first team All-NBA again. Yet, I could not help thinking as I watched Durant’s masterpiece, at 32 years old, coming off multiple surgeries after tearing his Achilles more than two years ago, and thinking that Giannis will never be this player.
Antetokounmpo has struggled to hit jump shots all postseason long and especially this series. Per NBA.com/stats, Antetokounmpo is 22-for-55 on jump shots against the Nets and is 12-for-40 on shots taken outside of the paint. And of course, Antetokounmpo’s free throw percentage has plummeted to 41.7 percent on 36 attempts this series, the worst mark of Antetokounmpo’s playoff resume.
Furthermore, Antetokounmpo is averaging 0.92 points per isolation possession over the course of the Bucks’ playoff run. As we’ve seen walls built time and time again to contain Antetokounmpo, he still tries to barrel through towards the basket with crowds of defenders in his way.
Furthermore, the mental aspect of the game is still not evident with Giannis at crucial times. This mental limitation manifests on the free throw line most of all, but can be found when he tries to run over a player for the 100th time or jacking up a 3-point attempt early in the shot clock. This mental lapse can also be seen on the defensive end when the player he leaves to help is wide open for a three, though that feels like a Bucks problem.
Giannis has often been compared to Shaquille O’Neal. O’Neal was a dominant post presence, an athletic big man, who can take over a game, yet cannot shoot or make free throws. In the fourth quarter of a close game, a hindrance. Even the Superman moniker has been passed to Giannis from Shaquille a few years back. Well, Shaquille won no titles without Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade. That second player does not exist on this Bucks team.
Antetokounmpo’s limitations are what they are at this point in his career. Unfortunately for the 2021 Bucks, he is not Kevin Durant. Because of this, that glimmer of Hope that many Bucks fans had a couple of days ago has been ripped away and drowned under another playoff tsunami.