giannis the playmaker

the freak is getting freakier

so far through eight games in these playoffs, giannis antetokounmpo is averaging 30/13/7. those 7 assists per game are more than 2 apg higher than his averages from last season's championship run, when he was already a pretty decent passer.

averaging more assists is cool, but what's really impressed me are the types of passes giannis is now throwing. gone are the days when defenses could "build a wall" to stop his drives then be content with an often unharmful "one-read" pass. giannis can now think multiple steps ahead, hit every spot on the floor, and even throw a few special dimes from time to time.

here's a play in semi-transition. the chicago bulls build a wall, which stops his drive:

a younger giannis may have tried to force the ball to the cutting jrue holiday or pass it too early to khris middleton in the corner, in which case zach lavine would've had time to stop the receiver and another bull would have been able to rotate and recover. but 2022 giannis held the ball just long enough to make all four bulls in the paint commit, froze lavine with his eyes, and created a wide open look:

here giannis gets the block, secures the rebound, and starts running in transition. bulls surround him as he spins:

he no-look kicks it out beautifully to the corner, on the money. grayson allen 3:

here giannis is in semi-transition again. he makes a quick spin to the baseline to attack before the bulls can set up the wall. alex caruso is forced to help from the corner, leaving middleton wide open:

but giannis sees demar derozan lurking to intercept the pass to khris, and holds the ball in the air just long enough before dropping it off to brook lopez instead for a dunk:

this one's the most absurd pass of them all, a one-handed, wrap-around, 25-foot pass right into bobby portis' shooting pocket at the top of the key:

very donovan-mitchell-like (i think donovan is the most spectacular airborne long-distance bullet passer in the league):

you know what, i'll share a few more ridiculous donovan mitchell passes. like this one:

and this one:

and this one:

anyway, back to giannis. the quality of his passes is reflected in the shooting percentages that his teammates have off passes from him versus passes from anyone else on the bucks. allen, lopez, jrue, wes matthews, and portis are shooting 50.9 percent on 3-pointers that giannis assists on, versus 31.6 percent on passes from other teammates:

the freak is getting freakier.

---

if you enjoyed this post, please hit the like button (the little heart ❤️)! sharing also helps a lot!

also consider subscribing to stay up to date! you’ll get email updates when i post. it’s 100% free!