LY: BUCKS ARE ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

By: Allan Ly
RP Show Intern

Giannis” The Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo reached the elusive brass ring for his career when he won his first NBA title.

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns in six games with a score of 105 to 98 on Tuesday.

It was an historic night for Antetokounmpo, scoring 50 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and swatting five shots which also got him the NBA Finals MVP.

Now Antetokounmpo’s resume is as follows: 2 MVPs(2019,2020), one finals MVP, one NBA title, one Defensive Player of the Year, One Most Improved Player, and many other awards.

Here is the scary part for Antetokounmpo: he is not even in his 30’s nor in the twilight of his career. He is just 26 years old going into the prime of his career.

The 14 other teams from the NBA who did not pick Antetokounmpo in the 2013 NBA draft must be kicking themselves for the mistake.

Well, the 2013 NBA draft was not the best anyways, as out of the entire draft, only three players managed to go to the NBA All-Star Game.

Victor Oladipo was selected with the second pick by the Orlando Magic, and he was a late bloomer because he did not do much with them.

It was not until the 2018 and 2019 seasons where Oladipo reached All-Star status when he made the All-Star Game those years.

That was the same for the other megastar in the 2013 draft, and that was Rudy Gobert, who was selected with the 27 pick by the Denver Nuggets but later got traded to the Utah Jazz.

Gobert is one of the best defensive players in the NBA as he already is a 3X NBA Defensive Player of the year.

Another thing that I am impressed with  Antetokounmpo is that he won the championship with the team that initially drafted him.

For example, Kevin Durant has two NBA Championships and two Finals MVPs (2017, 2018) with the Golden State Warriors, but he had to leave his own team the Oklahoma City Thunder.

What is even worse for Durant is that he went with the old saying of “if you can’t beat them, then join them.”

When Durant signed with the Warriors he joined up with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, he lost to them in the 2016 NBA Playoffs with the Thunder in seven games.

Now Durant is on another super team with the Brooklyn Nets, where his running mates are James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Durant and his Nets lost to the Bucks in an intense second round match up where Antetokounmpo and his Bucks won in seven games.

Another ring chaser is Lebron James after he initially could not win a title  with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2003-2010.

James won back-to-back NBA Championships with the Miami Heat, which included two finals MVPs as well (2012,2013).

Eventually Lebron won something with the Cavs in 2016 when they beat the Golden State Warriors  in seven games.

Last year James won his fourth NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers when he and Anthony Davis beat his old team the Miami Heat in six games.

The title victory for the Bucks is 50 years in the making, as the last time they won a title was in 1971.

Back then, the Bucks were led by a superstar duo of Oscar Robertson and Lewis Alcindor( later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

So what should the Bucks do in the off-season? According to the Sportrac website, they got seven free agents, most notably Bobby Portis and Bryn Forbes.

Portis played the majority of the NBA 72 game season ( he played 66 games), where he averaged 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds per game.

While for Forbes, he played 70 games and averaged 10 points per game while also grabbing two rebounds per game.

The future looks bright for Antetokounmpo and his Bucks; who knows; we might be seeing a dynasty on our hands.

(Follow Allan Ly on Twitter @AllanTheIntern)