Antetokounmpo cements status as NBA great after breaking Abdul-Jabbar record
NEW YORK – Giannis Antetokounmpo’s evolution took another leap Thursday night (Friday Manila time) when he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the Milwaukee Bucks’ all-time leading scorer.
The shot that broke the record was symbolic of how far Antetokounmpo has gone since coming into the NBA as a very raw, lanky kid from Greece.
Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 44 points, 14 rebounds and six assists to a come-from-behind win over their rival Brooklyn Nets, 120-119, in overtime at Barclays Center in a potential first-round series matchup.
Antetokounmpo hit a step-back three with 18.7 seconds left in the regulation to send the game into overtime and completed his heroics with the game-winning free throws.
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“It’s a tribute to everything that he does, all the time, and the work he puts in. He does whatever we need to win a game – make the three to send it into overtime, make the free throws to win it,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s special.”
Except for his height, there wasn’t anything special about Antetokounmpo when he set foot in the NBA. The Bucks made a gamble and took him in with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft as a project. Even after Antetokounmpo rose to stardom leading his small-market team to the playoffs, he wasn’t widely respected around the league.
Two years ago, former NBA MVP James Harden famously dismissed Antetokounmpo as a player who doesn’t have a skill.
“I wish I could just be 7 feet and run and dunk. That takes no skill at all,” Harden told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in the now-defunct The Jump. “I actually have to learn how to play basketball and have skill. I’ll take that any day.”
Two years later, Harden’s argument no longer holds water.
Antetokounmpo has an NBA championship to show and a game that is expanding.
Needing 39 points to surpass the greatest scorer not only in Bucks history but the entire NBA, Antetokounmpo broke the record in style – in Harden’s signature step-back move.
“I didn’t know about [the record]. But it’s good because I’m changing the narrative,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t want to be the big guy that dunks and runs.”
“They now know I can make a three. But it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day if you don’t have a successful season. If you don’t try to keep getting better, staying humble, and staying hungry to play all the way to May and June, nobody’s going to remember this. So, I just want to stay humble. I feel like the more humble I get, the more hungry I stay, the more I can accomplish.”
He was 0 for 3 from the three-point territory going into the final 47 seconds of the regulation. He missed a wide-open one from the top of the key with 48.7 seconds left. But that did not stop Antetokounmpo from trying because he was hungry.
“I wanted to shoot it so bad. I knew I had time to line it up in my hands. But I didn’t want to do that. Because I knew if I did that, I’m going to pump fake because you cannot beat your habits. My instinct is to get into the paint. But I knew I had to shoot, so I rushed it, but it felt good. But it didn’t go in,” Antetokounmpo said
So, when the opportunity came again 20 seconds later, Antetokounmpo was undeterred. He took a jab step to lure Andre Drummond to drop. He added more separation with the step-back.
“I knew we needed a three, so I was able to get my feet set and shoot it. That one went in,” Antetokounmpo said.
“Giannis hit a big shot. I give him credit,” said Kevin Durant, who missed a potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
The win pushed the Bucks within half-game behind Eastern Conference leader Miami Heat. They can catch the Heat with a win against the Los Angeles Clippers Friday night (Saturday Manila time).
But Antetokounmpo doesn’t care about playoff seedings.
“I just want to keep building good habits,” Antetokounmpo said.
He also doesn’t care about chasing NBA records.
“I have to play for 25 years,” he replied when asked about breaking Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA all-time scoring record of 38,387 points.
Antetokounmpo is already in his ninth season with only 14,216 total points after beating the Nets. He needs to average 30 points and play all 82 regular-season games to catch Abdul-Jabbar in the next 10 years.
“If you try to start to chase these accomplishments, you’ll not be enjoying the game and just do it for the accomplishments. And once you fall into that cycle, it’s bad. Because when you don’t accomplish things, you will think you didn’t do a good enough job. I just try to focus on what I can do to improve every day,” Antetokounmpo said.
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based sports website empiresportsmedia.com.
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