“Why is Giannis being called peak LeBron James while the Kevin Durant has fallen off?”: NBA Twitter compares Greek Freak’s inefficiency against Celtics with Slim Reaper’s

The Boston Celtics have been able to do their thing on Giannis Antetokounmpo, as much as they did with Kevin Durant in the First Round

The Brooklyn Nets might have been the favorites to win it all at the beginning, it changed drastically as the season progressed and by the time it came to an end, they finished in a Play-in spot. 

After winning their Play-in tournament they matched up with the #2 seed Boston Celtics who came into the Playoffs as the top defense in the NBA. They were allowing just 106.9 points per 100 possessions (1st in the league). They were only letting their opponents shoot 50.4% effective field goal percentage (eFG) (1st). There were various other aspects that had them as the team on D.

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According to Cleaning the Glass, the Celtics were also 2nd in allowing opponents to shoot close to the basket during possessions (27.7%), 1st in opponents’ mid-range shooting percentage (39.3%), and 2nd in opponents’ 3-pointer shooting percentage (34.3%). 

Despite being weaker in transition defense, Ime Udoka’s side was still 7th in opponents’ transition points per 100 possessions (2.3) and 5th in opponents’ transition points per 100 plays (121.4).  

So, it was trouble calling for the Nets when they came to Boston as a lower seed, and it’s going to be nothing different for the Bucks as Giannis is facing similar problems to what KD faced since Game 1.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is having similar series against Boston Celtics to Kevin Durant’s efficiency-wise

The 2021 Finals MVP is not anywhere close to the meltdown the Slim Reaper had, who went down to 22-5.3-5.3 averages in the first three games where the Celtics defense allowed him just 52 shots, out of which he could convert only 19 with that suffocating defense.  

Nets ended up losing all 3 of those and while Durant did have a great Game 4 Celtics won that game too and did a sweep on his team in Brooklyn. 

Giannis is meanwhile averaging 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 9.5 assists in the first two games and the Bucks were also able to steal a game on the road, but he has had a pretty similar efficiency to KD’s 3 games.

The Greek Freak has taken an exact 52 shots and converted just 1 more shot than KD to keep his efficiency just under 38.5% which is a win for Boston if they can do that for the rest of the series. He has also had 5.5 turnovers a game compared to KD’s 5.6 avg in 3 games.

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Although the result might differ from the Nets’ series because even with inefficiency Giannis will have high scoring games and the volume of his attempts might be a cause for trouble for the Celtics.