Giannis has gotten himself as many 40+ point games as Steph Curry in two years as Curry has had since 2013.
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Giannis seems to be the main-man ushering in a new age for the NBA currently. These 2022 NBA Playoffs are the first Playoff in 17 years without neither LeBron James or Kevin Durant. Instead, teams in the Semis are being led by up-and-coming superstars like Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, and Jayson Tatum.
At the helm of it all is the reigning NBA Finals MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks are currently holding a 2-1 series lead over the Boston Celtics after a nail-biting finish that had Al Horford tip in a shot just after the buzzer sounded, leading to a 2-point Bucks win.
However, at the crux of last night’s Game 3 was the 42 point masterpiece the 2x MVP put up that had the Celtics’ interior defense in absolute shambles. This is the first 40+ point game for him in this postseason and if this year is anything thing like last year, it certainly won’t be his last.
Giannis and Steph Curry have the same number of 40+ point games in the Playoffs?
The first time Giannis ever scored 40+ points in the Playoffs as when he dropped 41 on Detroit in 2019. He would then put up 40+ points on 4 separate occasions in the 2021 Playoffs including a 50 point, legacy defining game in Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals.
Another player who’s had six 40+ point games in his entire postseason career is Steph Curry. His first was in 2013 and his most recent was in a Game 3 win over the Toronto Raptors when he had 47.
The main difference between the two is that Steph took 7 Playoff runs to get to the same number of 40+ point games as Giannis did, who did it in nearly half the amount of time.
Of course, several years of Curry’s career were with Kevin Durant who took up a major role in the offense for the Golden State Warriors. This stat isn’t to disparage Curry as it is more so to shed light on just how incredible the ‘Greek Freak’ truly is.
