Everyone loves a star NBA player scoring points, slamming windmill dunks, and grabbing rebounds. However, when a player contributes assists; it says several things about the player.
Furthermore, Giannis Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple double on Thursday night against the Portland Trailblazers. Equally important was that he contributed a career-high 15 assists as part of the onslaught. All of this came in a nice 137-129 win in Milwaukee for the superstar.
🏀 FINAL SCORE THREAD 🏀
WIth 24 PTS, 19 REB & 15 AST in the victory, @Giannis_An34 becomes the first @Bucks player with a 20p/15r/15a game!
Eric Bledsoe: 30 PTS, 6 AST
Pat Connaughton: 18 PTS pic.twitter.com/PeO8LCBkJv— NBA (@NBA) November 22, 2019
Think about it – when a player is dishing that many assists out – he’s making those around him better. That is the essence of being a ‘playmaker’ or a distributor of the basketball. Of course, this is important in being a star player because basketball is a team sport. The Greek Freak’s head coach had comment on what he thought of his star’s big night.
“I thought tonight was one of his best nights of just seeing the floor and really being a playmaker with 15 assists [and] in a lot of different ways he got the assists,” Budenholzer said.
Notably, it was Antetokounmpo’s second triple double of the season. His 24-point, 19-rebound, 15-assist stat line has been matched only by legends such as Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Larry Bird the game’s history.
Remember also that Carmelo Anthony is now a member of the Trail Blazers. With that being said, Antetokounmpo spoke about what it means to go against a legendary player with almost two decades in the league. Perhaps it added some fuel for him to have a big game.
“This is my seventh year now and the 17th year of Melo. … Time flies,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m excited I could go against him. He’s definitely an NBA player, definitely deserves to be on the team.”
Right now, Antetokounmpo is as dominating as any talent in the league. Also, he’s easy to root for when you read stories like this one about him. The unique triple double is simply another nice accomplishment on his resume.
