Giannis Antetokounmpo’s free throw routines are now a matter of annoyance for opposition players, as James Harden showed today.
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The Milwaukee Bucks headed into their locker room at halftime holding an 11-point lead at Fiserv Forum. They have the chance to even the series up for a Game 7, and have mostly played up to the mark thus far.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, for his part, already has 19 points, 11 rebounds and 3 dimes at halftime. He’s also only got 2 personal fouls called on him thus far. Neither of those calls were for offensive fouls. It seems that he can play this game out without fear of foul trouble.
But to do that, he’ll need to continue in the same vein, attacking mainly on drives to the paint. Giannis has only missed one of his 9 shots thus far, making 8 – including a nice mid-range jumper.
It’s clear that Giannis will continue to occupy deep post position against the smaller Nets defenders. And as the game goes on, the Greek Freak is likely to head to the free throw lines many more times.
James Harden was visibly frustrated by how long Giannis took at the free throw line
One of the irritating things about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game is how long he takes to shoot his free throws. The 2-time MVP has already been called for 2 free throw violations this postseason for taking more than 10 seconds to shoot them.
He’s dodging most of those calls by running the routine through his mind and without the ball in his hands. James Harden, who takes several trips to the free throw line himself, was visibly frustrated today at his antics.
According to Stat Muse, Giannis took 3 minutes and 30 seconds to just shoot 7 free throws in the first quarter today. This is almost a third of the entire quarter by game time.
The Greek Freak can’t, and won’t keep getting away with this for too long. People are going to call him out more and more as the years go on. James Harden certainly isn’t going to hide his feelings when facing him on the court.
