Tyrese Maxey Was Scared To Defend Giannis Antetokounmpo Due To NBA 2k ’44 Strength’

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a modern-day wrecking ball. His size, strengthand unmatched ability to get to the rim have caused problems for a lot of teams, so much that Nick Nurse had to come up with a special way to guard him. The ‘Giannis Wall’ was built when Nurse was with the Raptors, and is still used by his 76ers team today.

Tyrese Maxey, who’s probably the last person the Sixers want on Giannis, joked about why he was always scared to guard the Greek and found a way to joke about his 2k stats at the same time. For the uninitiated, Maxey has a 44 strength rating on the video game, a stat that feels inadequate to him.

So, when talking on The Deep 3 podcast about who the hardest players to guard are, Giannis’ name came up. Maxey mentioned one time that he found himself one-on-one against the Greek, and said, “It was me and him on a break one time, and I’m like ‘I can’t take the bump ‘cos I have 44 strength in 2k.'”

Funnier still was his recollection of how Nurse’s ‘Giannis Wall’ fell a few times because he just had to move out of the way, and let Giannis do his thing at the rim. “Sometimes you’re there, and Giannis really doesn’t care, and the coach is like, ‘You’re in the wall!’ and I was like, ‘yeah coach, but the elbow kinda came through, and I kinda thought about it,'” he laughed with his hosts.

Giannis has been seen as the most physically dominant player in the league since Shaquille O’Neal, and the Big Fella wasn’t shy to show some love to the Greek, too. “Before you say Shaq can’t play in this era today, I’m already playing. My name is Giannis Antetokounmpo,” he said.

Only the most dominant players get defensive schemes named after them. Look at the Hack-a-Shaq, the Jordan Rules, and the modern-day Giannis Wall. Both Shaq and MJ often displayed their annoyance with the way they were defended, and Giannis is no different.

In a press conference once, he mentioned how he was honored that teams had to come up with a special way to guard him, but admitted that it did annoy him a bit, regardless.

“It’s funny to me there’s a defense out there called a ‘Giannis Wall.’ It’s crazy. You have to take it as a compliment. It is a compliment that there gotta be 3 people in front stopping me from getting to the paint… but yeah, I hate it. I’m not gonna lie, I hate it,” he said.

This was 4 years ago, and his game has significantly improved since then. The main purpose of the wall defence was to force him to pass, since that was a skill he was still perfecting. Well, he’s got it on lock now, and triple-teaming him usually means you have to be okay with leaving teammates of his wide open, as Giannis now has the skill to find the free man.

It’s either death by Giannis at the rim or death by Giannis in the passing lane. Pick your poison.