Milwaukee Bucks superstar and reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo put on another dazzling show on Saturday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Antetokounmpo scored 31 points while grabbing 17 rebounds and dishing out eight assists in under 30 minutes of action, leading the Bucks to a 21-point win in the process.
The game marked Giannis' 12th such performance with at least 30 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — who set this record with the Lakers, not the Bucks, in 1976 — holds the record for most games with that kind of line (17), putting Antetokounmpo on pace to break that single-season mark:
Giannis Antetokounmpo now has 12 30-point, 15-rebound, 5-assist games this season.
According to @EliasSports ,that is the most in a season since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 17 in 1975-76.
Kareem won MVP that season. pic.twitter.com/iWbczpDLOV
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 23, 2020
Just as Kareem won the MVP during that 1975-76 season, Antetokounmpo of the Bucks is the leading candidate to win a second consecutive MVP.
Giannis is averaging 30.0 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game for the Bucks, and he is currently on pace for the highest single-season perimeter efficiency rating (PER) in NBA history.
But ever the stoic tactician, Giannis is merely focused on one game at a time for the Bucks (via Eric Woodyard of ESPN):
“I'm just trying to get better, because I know that my team wants me to be better, and I know when getting better, I can help my team win easily, put them in the right spots easily. It just makes the game for my teammates a lot easier, so that's my mindset,” Antetokounmpo continued. “We've got 26 more games until the playoffs. Just try to take as much of these 26 games, play good basketball, learn as much as possible, take notes, watch clips, so I can make my mind stronger and smarter — and that's pretty much it.”
The Bucks improved to 48-8 with the win, and Giannis continues to take aim at history in the process, but his lone goal remains delivering a championship to Milwaukee. The regular-season statistics are good, but the postseason is the only thing which really counts.
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