It has now been 3 years since Giannis Antetokounmpo put up a historic performance in the 2021 NBA Finals to help the Milwaukee Bucks win a coveted championship. As most fans should be aware, Giannis is the franchise superstar for the Bucks and is the reason for the success of the team in recent times.
Although a fair amount of time has passed since the Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship, the showcase of dominance that the Greek Freak displayed has not been forgotten by the basketball community. With that being said, let us take a look back at this accomplishment and the context that makes it quite impressive.
Fans recall Giannis Antetokounmpo dominating Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals
The Bucks finished the 2020-2021 NBA season as the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. As a result, they matched up against Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. Milwaukee defeated the Heat and faced the Brooklyn Nets in the second round of the playoffs.
This series went down to 7 games and the Bucks managed to advance to the Conference Finals. Although Giannis Antetokounmpo was injured, Milwaukee managed to get past the Atlanta Hawks and advance to the NBA Finals.
Despite going down 0-2 to the Suns, the Bucks won 4 games in a row in order to secure an NBA title. The series concluded with a 50 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks performance from Giannis in Game 6.Considering that Antetokounmpo was dealing with an injury at the time, this display of greatness was impressive, to say the least, “On this day 3 years ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo had the greatest closeout game in NBA finals history: 50 PTS 14 REB 5 BLK 16-25 FGM 17-19 FTM Led the Bucks to their first title in 50 years.”
On this day 3 years ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo had the greatest closeout game in NBA finals history:
50 PTS
14 REB
5 BLK
16-25 FGM
17-19 FTMLed the Bucks to their first title in 50 years 🦌pic.twitter.com/Myz9khCSyI
— NBA World (@NBAW0RLD24) July 20, 2024
In fact, some fans have been making the argument that it is one of the best closeout games in NBA Finals history and is severely underrated.
Was Giannis’ closeout game the best ever in NBA Finals history?
It might surprise some fans to hear that the Greek Freak is tied for the #1 position on the leaderboard for most points scored in a Finals closeout game. Giannis and former NBA star Bob Petit are the only 2 players to have scored 50 points and won an NBA championship in the process. Even Michael Jordan scored 45 points vs the Utah Jazz in 1998.
There have been several great closeout performances over the years. While an argument could be made claiming that Giannis’ performance might just be the very best, almost every single fan will agree that it is the greatest in recent times.