We have come a long way from the time when we worried Giannis Antetokounmpo’s season was ended.
KiAfter the Milwaukee Bucks won Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns 120-100 on Sunday, cutting the Suns’ series lead to 2-1 heading into Wednesday’s decisive Game 4.
Because of the history of the NBA, no team has ever come back from being down 3-0 in a seven-game series and won.
For the second game in a row, Antetokounmpo responded to the Bucks’ desperation with a superb performance.
Scoring 41 points while also grabbing 13 boards and dishing out six assists. He made 14 of 23 shots (or 56.7 percent) from the field.
Giannis’s performance on Sunday put him in exclusive company as only the sixth player in Finals history to achieve back-to-back 40-point games.
The other five are Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, and Rick Barry. The most recent to achieve it was LeBron James in 2016 when he scored 41 points in Games 5 and 6 against the Warriors.
Giannis Antetokounmpo: “I’m not Michael Jordan” After Scoring 40 Points Again
The Bucks went into halftime with a 15-point lead after outscoring the opponents 35-17. During that time, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 11 of his 18 first-half points.
While wreaking havoc on the Suns’ dreadful interior defence. He had scored 40 points for the second game in a row, but this time it counted.
It was brought up in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s postgame press conference that he had just tied Michael Jordan’s record of four straight 40-point games in the NBA Finals.
It’s worth noting that Jordan set his mark against the Suns as well. Antetokounmpo, though, was quick to deflect the inquiry.
Claiming that he was not in the same league as Michael Jordan and so could not accomplish such a feat.
Giannis Antetokounmpo stated that the only thing on his mind is getting a win for the Bucks in their upcoming game.
Conclusion
After scoring 41 points on Sunday night in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo has now scored 40 or more points in two consecutive Finals games.
What Antetokounmpo had to say regarding Michael Jordan’s string of four straight NBA Finals games with 40 points (1993 versus the Phoenix Suns) is shown in the video embedded in the Tweet below from NBA TV.
