After the first quarter last night, Giannis Antetokounmpo had only logged five minutes, in which he had racked up as many fouls as points (two on both counts). For 12 minutes, it looked like we might not get to see another stratospheric season-to-season improvement in his game, as we have come to expect from him every season of his young career so far. Well, 36 minutes later, Giannis had definitively shut up anyone who was even thinking along those lines.
First, the numbers:
In 37 minutes of action, Giannis scored 37 points on 13-22 shooting, including 11-13 from the charity stripe. On top of that, he snagged 13 rebounds, dished 3 assists, and caught 3 steals. He also turned the ball over 5 times and racked up 4 fouls, but considering he had 2 fouls after 5 minutes that last number isn’t so bad. Giannis’s opener clearly passes the eye test, but just how good was this game?
Well, by one (admittedly arbitrary) metric it was the fifth-best season opener of all time. When you look at all of the season-opening performances since 1983-1984 (the first year that Basketball-Reference lets you search from), only four players have scored more points while grabbing 13 rebounds or more. The names aren’t bad either:
- Michael Jordan (54 points/14 rebounds/6 assists/3 steals/1 block)
- Anthony Davis (50/15/5/5/4)
- Karl Malone (40/16/5/2/2)
- Hakeem Olajuwon (39/19/0/3/0)
Giannis’s 37 was actually tied with Charles Barkley’s 37/21/8/1/1, too. Pretty good company Giannis is keeping there, with the only non-hall of famer on that list being Anthony Davis. Davis could of course very well end up in the hall of fame as well, and his entry on this list is one of the greatest games of all time, season opener or not. Anyways, the craziest thing is that Giannis is also the youngest player on this list at 22 years old, followed by Davis at 23, Olajuwon at 25, Malone and Jordan at 26, and Charles Barkley at 29. In case you still don’t get why Bucks fans (and NBA fans in general) are so high on Giannis, these numbers should help tell the story.
Now, we all know Giannis is not gonna just rest on his laurels after starting this season with such a great game. He has the loftiest individual goal possible for this season: winning the MVP award. If he can continue to play like he did yesterday, it’ll take a crazy season to stop him from reaching that podium. Still, there are a few areas of his game last night that could see some improvement and would really make him unstoppable:
- Stay out of early foul trouble (he could have easily hit 40+ if he’d played more of the first quarter)
- Limit the turnovers
- Work on the assists and blocks (he usually gets more than 3 assists and 0 blocks a game, but if he can get those numbers up while keeping the scoring and rebounding numbers he’s due for an all-time season)
Maybe it’s crazy to expect a 22 year old to play at an MVP clip all season, but Giannis isn’t just any 22 year old. His season opener set the bar pretty damn high, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a Bucks fan who doesn’t think he’ll clear that bar sooner rather than later this season. Tune in tomorrow night at 6:00 PM CT to see Giannis take on an even bigger challenge than the Celtics in the Cavs.