The Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, and that’s largely because of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. shutting down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the game.
Sure enough, the Bucks prepared hard to counter the threat that SGA brings. They know he’s the focal point of the Thunder offense, and based on Antetokounmpo’s statement following their win, they made it a priority to slow him down offensively and force him to pass the ball instead.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored only 12 points in the contest as the Bucks destroyed the Thunder, 118-93. He shot 5-of-12 from the field and made just two assists in 30 minutes of action.
“I think we just showed a lot of help. We know he’s the head of the snake. … You see guys that average 30, 35. But he’s also a willing passer. So that kind of helps you sometimes because he’s gonna try to make the right play, he’s not gonna force it,” Antetokounmpo said on Milwaukee slowing down and limiting Gilgeous-Alexander’s scoring, via Joel Lorenzi of Oklahoman Sports.
The Bucks definitely did a great job defensively. The fact that SGA was also only limited to two dimes speaks volumes of the overall defense they had in the game. Usually a player of Gilgeous-Alexander’s caliber attracts too much defense that leaves his teammates open. On Sunday, however, Milwaukee made sure the rest of the Thunder don’t get going offensively as well.
For what it’s worth, however, Gilgeous-Alexander is far from bothered by the results of the game and his performance. He noted that there are a lot of “lessons learned” for them, especially as they wanted to see in the game how they stack up against the best of the best in the NBA.
Giannis Antetokounmpo makes MVP case
Naturally, the Bucks wouldn’t have defeated the Thunder with just defense. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way for Milwaukee with a huge double-double, capping another MVP-caliber performance against a rival.
Antetokounmpo led the Cream City team to victory with a final line of 30 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, and one block. The Greek Freak shot 13 of his 18 attempts from the field, leaving Oklahoma City unable to stop him.
With that performance, Giannis has also now outplayed the Top 3 MVP candidates, further solidifying his case as a legitimate contender for the award. Sunday’s game is his first meeting with the Thunder and SGA, while Antetokounmpo has already played Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks twice, winning both times and scoring at least 40 points in both instances.
In the meantime, Antetokounmpo led his club in scoring in both of their encounters with current MVP favorite and Denver Nuggets player Nikola Jokic, scoring 29 and 36 points respectively. The Greek international won the most recent match, which took place in February of last year, although Denver and Milwaukee split the two games.
Antetokounmpo has led the Bucks to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, and he has demonstrated enough to be considered for MVP once more. Though it’s unclear if he will make it to the finals and take home the prize, there’s no doubting that he should be treated with more respect in talks than he presently receives.
Milwaukee has 11 games left on the season. If Antetokounmpo and the rest of the team can continue their incredible run, his MVP doubters might be forced to turn their attention on him.