NBA Twitter couldn’t help but troll Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks after another Game 1 loss.
The cost of greatness is often the ridicule you’ll receive when you come up short. As Norman Osborn once said in the original Spider-man, “The only thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying.”
That seems to be the mantra of NBA Twitter and its trolling every time an established superstar comes up short in the playoffs, and it goes double for someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks. The reason? They’re really stinking good.
Giannis will most likely repeat as the league’s MVP this season and just won his first Defensive Player of the Year award. The Bucks, meanwhile, posted the best record, point differential and defense in the NBA before the season was suspended, establishing themselves yet again as a title favorite.
People would love to see one of the league’s most recognizable faces break through and win his first championship in a small market … but there’s also the unavoidable impulse that many feel flowing through their veins when they crave watching him come up short.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks got trolled after another Game 1 loss
When the Bucks lost another Game 1 on Monday, this time against the Miami Heat in the second round of the playoffs, those Twitter trolls had to get their jokes off. Serious or not, some of them were pretty damn funny.
While Antetokounmpo nearly had a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, he also committed six turnovers and missed 8 of his 12 free throws. NBA Twitter made sure not to let him forget it:
This is just pure comedy:
Comparing him to Shaquille O’Neal at the foul line? That’s just cold, although at least Shaq was a four-time NBA champ ….
The player comparisons didn’t stop there though, with Andre Roberson, Anthony Bennett and Paul George’s “Playoff P” being dragged for it in a hilarious NSFW clip.
https://twitter.com/CrypticNoOne/status/1300613869417779202?s=20
The concern with Antetokounmpo stems from his inability to hit shots off the dribble and his weaker perimeter shot. The officials let the Heat play physical in Game 1, and once Giannis lost his driving lanes, his offense shriveled up.
Oh well. Even if the rest of the league wants to clown Giannis and the Bucks, at least we know the Toronto Raptors will be interested in his services in the future:
Hopefully the Greek Freak and his Milwaukee team can right the ship in Game 2 before the Twitter reactions get even more ridiculous.