Giannis Antetokounmpo is already in midseason form.He absolutely dominated the first half against a scrappy upstart Brooklyn Nets team.
The Miami Heat took a 69-66 lead into the half. Many questioned if his health would allow him to return to form but much like the Movie John Wick, "yeah, I'm starting to think", he's back.
Giannis dominated all parts of Wednesday's game.He rocked the rim with thunderous dunks in transition. He hustled and chased down players for blocked shots. He rotated over for weak side blocks. He caused deflections, steals and rebounded the ball. If there was a stat for it, he did it.
Through one half, Antetokounmpo led the Heat in points 18, rebounds 11, assists 5 and blocks 3.He failed to register a steal but surely caused several. It felt like there were clones of Giannis out there. He was being defended by Dayron Sharpe and Giannis made him look small. (He's most certainly not.) Giannis is just a larger-than-life player.
And then, in the second half, it continued.
When Giannis checked out in the third quarter, he had 20 points, 16 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks in 24 minutes. His only two misses were two airballs from three-point range.
When you look historically at Giannis's career. He has averaged 27.6 points, 9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.Those are likely all to be elevated in Miami. Prior to last years injury filled and will he play or won't he season. He had three straight years averaging over 30 points per game. That is where I think he will end up this season. I think he increases his rebounds over 10 and assists over 6 on this team.
Giannis started his career under Jason Kidd in Milwaukee playing point guard for the Bucks.You will see him return in a scoring point forward type role. The Heat have shooting all over the court and the lane is always open. When it gets clogged, he is such a good passer he just finds the open guy.
I believe Giannis is poised to make a run at the MVP award this season.He is a dominant two-way player in a high-profile environment like Miami. He will have the offensive stats to rival Shai Gilgious-Alexander and Nikola Jokic for the MVP award. The factor that neither of those guys have been that he will have a chip towards potentially being a defensive player of the year candidate also.
That two-way ability could be the separator to vault him back to the top of the basketball world.He is only 31 years old. That lands him right smack at the end of his prime. That is his prime regardless which part it is and that is a scary thing for the league.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/heat/onsi as Giannis Looks MVP Caliber in Miami Heat Tune Up Against Nets .
