Skip to main content

Giannis Antetokounmpo Gets Roasted Online For Poor Skills Challenge Performance: "Certified Non-Bucket Getter..."


 

Giannis Antetokounmpo is an absolutely unstoppable force on the basketball court. As a 6x All-Star, 2x MVP, and NBA Champion he has more than proved himself in the league.


Unfortunately, his greatness does not make him immune from the wrath of NBA Twitter.


During Saturday night's skills challenge, Giannis and his brothers formed a three-man crew that looked to pass a test of passing, dribbling, and shooting. The trio ended up doing so bad (they were the first team eliminated) that they got clowned by fans on Twitter.


The Harden reference some fans Tweeted dates back a few years now. Back in 2020, Harden threw some shade at the Greek Freak by saying his game requires "no skill."


"I wish I could just be 7 feet and run and dunk. That takes no skill at all," he told ESPN's Rachel Nichols. "I actually have to learn how to play basketball and have skill. I'll take that any day."


While it might be a stretch to say Giannis' game requires no skill at all, a case can be made that a guy like Harden and others (who do not have the luxury of being Giannis' size) have to develop more skills to be successful in the game.


The skills challenge, at least to some, illuminates Harden's point. Regardless, the blame cannot fall all on Giannis.


The Antetokounmpo brothers are among the NBA's most well-known and beloved families. They clearly have some talent and had some fun on Saturday, but it's no surprise that Alex and Thanasis had some trouble carrying their weight.


As for Antetokounmpo, he has never been known as a shooter, but he finds other ways to dominate the game. He knows how to use his body and size to get easy shots around the rim.


Sadly, he can't really use those to his advantage during the skills challenge.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bill Russell Once Explained Why He Didn't Bother With Celtics Fans: "When I Was A Star, The Fans Called Us The 'Boston Globetrotters' Because The Celtics Had Black Players."

  While the NBA is a beacon for freedom and tolerance in America, things didn't start off that way. In a place like Boston, during the 50s and 60s, racial tension was a pretty serious problem, and superstar big man Bill Russell had to deal with it on a game-to-game basis. Today, it can be hard for us to imagine just how difficult being a black basketball player really was back then. Fortunately, we have some clips: "The number one paper was the Boston Herald and they didn't like the idea of an NBA team having black players. Out there, the star was Bob Cousy. No matter what I did, Cousy was the star. I remember I had a game where I had 25 points, 25 rebounds, 10 blocks, and the Boston Herald said I was lucky to play with Cousy." Unfortunately, the media didn't give Russell his respect back then. Despite being the best player on the court, and on his team, Cousy and others always got the spotlight. Even the fans weren't very accepting of Bill: "I didn't...

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

  Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...

Sixers' James Harden backs teammate Joel Embiid for MVP: 'He deserves it, man'

  James Harden has been a member of the Philadelphia 76ers for less than two months, but that's been more than enough time for him to appreciate the brilliance of Joel Embiid. The duo is expected to help the Sixers compete for a championship, but Harden believes another trophy should be on its way to Philly this year.  In an interview with Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Harden backed Embiid for MVP, saying "he deserves it, man." "I've only been here for a few weeks, but I already see his mindset," Harden said. "He wants to win. Some guys just want numbers, but he has both. He has the mentality of winning, and he scores the ball at a high level. I think he's prepared himself, especially coming off last year, for this year to be one of his best years." This has indeed been one of Embiid's best years. He's averaging a career-high 29.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.4 blocks while shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent f...