Milwaukee Bucks of America sensation, Giannis Adetokunbo (Antetokounmpo) continues receiving a flood of accolades and rave reviews, following his stunning performance in this season’s All Stars’ Game of USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA).
En route to getting named most valuable player for the third straight season running, the Nigerian-born Greece international was outstanding on all fronts, as he powered Team LeBron to a 170-150 win over Team Durant.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, while LeBron watched the second half of Sunday’s game from the bench. Antetokounmpo was perfect from the field, while Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard held their own in-game 3-point contest to lead the rout.
Team LeBron won each of the first three quarters to carry a 146-125 edge into the final stanza, meaning that the first team to 170 points would win, per the game’s Elam ending format.
Team LeBron produced several noteworthy performances, but none bigger than Antetokounmpo, who tallied 35 points and seven rebounds without missing a shot en route to MVP honors.
Fifteen makes in, ‘The Greek Freak’ rolled the dice with his perfect game by launching a contested 3-pointer in the third quarter. A friendly bounce off the backboard upped his tally to 16 of 16 from the field, including all three of his 3-point attempts.
With the effort, Antetokounmpo became the first player in All-Star Game history with a perfect shooting night from the field while attempting at least 10 shots.
It was far too steep a hill to climb for Team Durant and, with the win, James improved to 4-0 as an All-Star captain under the new format that was adopted in 2018.
Team LeBron’s victory added up to a big win for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The winner of each quarter secured a $150,000 donation for its designated charity, while the game winner earned a $300,000 charity bonus.
Team LeBron also swept the charity bonuses for an additional $750,000 donation to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, while each team’s designated charity started the game with a base $500,000 donation.
Team Durant played for the United Negro College Fund, while Antetokounmpo can enjoy playing on a super team and his loyalty, as proven by his super-max extension, remains with Milwaukee.
His passion – as shown by scoring 35 points on 16-of-16 shooting in leading Team LeBron to victory – remains strong, thereby keeping himself under the microscope after recently signing his extension quieted some noise, but not nearly all of it.
Antetokounmpo has won the last two regular-season MVPs, leading The Bucks to 60 wins two years ago and an even better record last season, though his side have faltered the last two postseasons.
They dropped four straight to the Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals then got smoked by The Heat in last year’s second round, but pundits were unanimous on Sunday night that Antetokounmpo can now silence his critics only by succeeding in the playoffs.
His 6 shots are the second-most ever in a game – regular-season, playoff or All-Star – by someone who didn’t miss and he doubled the prior All-Star record set by Philadelphia 76ers’ guard, Hal Greer shot 8-for-8 in 1968.
Antetokounmpo ended his press conference by lifting the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP trophy over his head and declared: “Milwaukee, this is for you!!!”
He broke into laughter, removed his headphones and told someone off camera, “I was supposed to do that.” Still smiling big, he again lifted the trophy and exclaimed: “Milwaukee, this is for you!”
