Giannis Antetokounmpo's latest master class came with a new career-high in 3-pointers made, burying five against the Milwaukee Bucks' biggest competition to date — the Los Angeles Lakers. If a statement 111-104 win over the West-leading Lakers wasn't enough, The Greek Freak's 3-point improvement is just the latest semblance of proof that he's nearing world domination as he rounds out his skill set.
Many former players, pundits, and NBA analysts claim that once Antetokounmpo adds a 3-point jumper to his already-impressive offensive arsenal, it would be over for the league.
Well, it's damn close to being over.
A quick look at his stats shows The Greek Freak is making only 33.8% of his shots from long-range, but it's not the percentage that speaks volumes, but the volume that speaks of his vast improvement.
Despite a relatively low success rate from distance, Antetokounmpo has been committed to taking these shots, regardless of the outcome. In fact, he's attempting 5.2 treys per game this season — comparable to that of a competent 3-point shooter.
Antetokounmpo started the season somewhat hesitant, missing all of his 3-pointers (0-for-9) after hitting 2-of-5 against the Houston Rockets in the season opener. It took him only a few games to realize he must keep taking those shots, even if they didn't go in as he expected them.
The result? Giannis Antetokounmpo has attempted four or more threes in each of his last 12 games and made at least one 3-pointer in each of his last 21 games. He's made three or more trifectas in seven games this season through 28 games. That only happened in six games last season.
This might be a tired rant, but a player can't hope to make threes without taking them.
Analysts from Chauncey Billups to Jalen Rose, to Hall of Famers like Magic Johnson have said so in recent appearances, and that is something that breaks Antetokounmpo from the mold of other reluctant 3-point shooters hoping to improve. He is no longer a reluctant shooter.
The first step of dealing with a problem is admitting there is one. Giannis has not only admitted it, but addressed it — and perhaps it took a painful loss to the Toronto Raptors for him to find out he could become rather predictable when the chips are down.
The Raptors took the ball out of his hands and forced him to make on-the-spot decisions, which ruined his rhythm, timing, and the groove he had going after the Bucks went up 2-0 in the series. That resulted in a comeback of epic fashion in the Eastern Conference Finals, sending the Bucks packing after winning the last four games of the series to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals.
The loss was painful, but it taught Antetokounmpo that he must become even more versatile to become unstoppable.
He isn't there quite yet. But he is rapidly closing that gap and accelerating that process by putting himself in enough situations to improve. Giannis Antetokounmpo is shooting the three off the dribble, from the corner, above the break, surprising his opponents with his willingness to let it fly from distance.
When that no longer is the case and he becomes a decent threat from distance, he could punish with a pump-fake that would put his defenders in an impossible conundrum: give up a wide-open three or risk a surefire two at the rim.
The Greek Freak doesn't have to become Karl-Anthony Towns from deep to become unstoppable, he just has to be enough of a threat to open his game up and make defenders respect him at the 3-point line.
Once he's proved he can punish when left open, the world will open up to him, and he'll use every inch of his 6-foot-11, 242-pound frame to wreak havoc on the court in ways we've only began to see this season.
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