NBA: Giannis Antetokounmpo, double MVP at the height of the greatest
Milwaukee Bucks winger Giannis Antetokounmpo on August 20, 2020 against the Orlando Magic.
Ashley Landis / Reuters via USA Today
Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow
6 min
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been named the best player of the 2019-2020 NBA season.
The Greek of Nigerian origin thus retains his title, and adds that of best defender.
At 25, the Milwaukee Bucks winger continues his irresistible rise.
All he needs is the champion's ring.
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Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Steve Nash ... These are some of the glorious names of the NBA, the famous North American basketball championship.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
is only 25 years old.
But his name is already on the list of the best players in the history of the league.
Friday, September 18, what almost no one doubted was made official: the Milwaukee Bucks winger was named MVP (Most Valuable Player, best player) of the 2019-2020 season.
► To read also: NBA Paris Game: Antetokounmpo, symbol of the globalization of basketball
Untouchable in front of James and Harden
The Greek therefore performs a “back-to-back”, an expression of the basketball world to qualify a player who keeps his trophy.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the 12th man to land the pass of two, after Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Nothing but beautiful people.
In this 2019-2020 season truncated by the coronavirus pandemic, the winger of Nigerian origin has been untouchable, in the game as in the statistics (29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists on average) , compared to the competition.
The voters having been instructed to evaluate the players only for the season elapsed before the interruption of March, there was no longer really any suspense as Antetokounmpo walked on the water during this period.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, here on August 22, 2020 against the Orlando Magic, is the MVP of the 2019-2020 season.
Mike Ehrmann / Reuters via USA Today
The results are final: the jewel of the Bucks was placed in first place by 85 of 101 voters (962 points), ahead of
LeBron James
(753 points) and Houston Rockets scorer, James Harden (367 points).
"King James", MVP four times (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013) and who aimed for a fifth coronation which would have allowed him to do as well as Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, did not hide his disappointment.
"
What makes me the most ch ... is that out of 101 votes, I was designated only 16 times in first place
", railed the metronome of the Los Angeles Lakers.
But no animosity on his part towards the new double MVP who “had
a superb season
”.
It matches the Jordan of 1988 and the Olajuwon of 1994
The coronation of Giannis Antetokounmpo makes it possible to measure the ever greater growth of the “Greek Freak” (“Greek phenomenon”) in the NBA.
Already last season, he became the second European player to receive the title of MVP after that of the German Dirk Nowitzki in 2007. Now a double MVP, he is the second non-American to achieve a back-to-back ”, After that of the Canadian Steve Nash (2005 and 2006).
Even stronger: before this MVP title, the Milwaukee giant (2.11m, 110 kilos) had already received that of best defender of the year.
Getting these two accolades in a single season had only happened twice in history, with Michael Jordan in 1988 and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994.
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That's it.
That's the list.
A post shared by Milwaukee Bucks (@bucks) on Sep 18, 2020 at 11:31 am PDT
“
They are some of the greatest players of all time.
(...) To be quoted with them is a superb compliment, but I still have a lot of work to do.
I have to keep improving,
”he said in an interview with the NBA from his hometown of Athens.
His obsession, the NBA title
Last year, Giannis Antetoukonmpo had savored his first MVP title in a very short time: only on the day he was awarded it.
“
Please, after that day, don't call me MVP again until I regain this title in a year,
” he told reporters.
This year, after this second title, the discourse changes a bit but the pressure remains: “
Don't call me MVP until I'm a champion.
"
Because it is a big difference with many of the greatest players to whom he is compared: he does not yet have any champion's ring.
This year, the Bucks and Antetokounmpo, although excellent in the regular season, were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Last season, it was the Toronto Raptors, future NBA champions, who got the better of Milwaukee's franchise in the Eastern Conference final.
Today, “The Alphabet” (another nickname) has just that in mind: “
I want to be champion.
And he has no intention of changing teams to achieve his dream.
He sees himself long term with the Bucks.
Resplendent on the floors, rewarded individually, Giannis Antetokounmpo finally wants to reign collectively over the NBA.
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