Don't mock the (Greek) Freak

Before Game 5 of the 2021 NBA Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo told The Athletic about the mental space he seeks to occupy.

“When you focus on the past, that’s your ego,” Antetokounmpo said. “‘I did this.’ 

“When I focus on the future, that’s my pride. ‘Yeah, next game, Game 5, I do this and this and this. I’m going to dominate.’ That’s your pride talking.

“I kind of try to focus on the moment, in the present. That’s humility. That’s being humble. That’s not setting no expectation. That’s going out there, enjoying the game, competing at a high level. I think I’ve had people throughout my life that helped me with that. But that is a skill that I’ve tried to, like, kind of — how do you say? — perfect it.”

Antetokounmpo has many admirable qualities. An underrated one is that he doesn’t get easily embarrassed. He is a below-average free-throw shooter who never avoids contact.

In the Bucks’ 2021 playoff run, Antetokounmpo averaged 9.8 free-throw attempts on 58.7% shooting. His shaky free-throw shooting was a storyline throughout the postseason. Besides being not terribly accurate on foul shots, Antetokounmpo also takes a long time to get them off. He sometimes brushes up against the 10-second time limit players are given from when they catch the ball to when they have to shoot it. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Atlanta Hawks fans did an expedited version of a 10-second countdown, and it seemed to rattle Antetokounmpo. He air-balled two consecutive free throws in Game 4. 

The Bucks beat the Hawks in six games, but Antetokounmpo’s free-throw shooting continued to be an issue in the Finals against the Phoenix Suns. In Game 5, Antetokounmpo shot 4 of 11 at the line. Antetokounmpo had a chance to give his team a two-possession lead with 1:09 to play. He missed his first free throw, and the Suns called timeout to make him stew on his mistake. Antetokounmpo stepped back up to the line. He missed again.

Such failure would have paralyzed many players, but Antetokounmpo responded by making the defining play of the series in the final minute of the game. With the Bucks clinging to a one-point lead, Jrue Holiday ripped the ball away from Devin Booker. Antetokounmpo legged out in front of everyone else and finished an alley-oop through contact.

The Bucks clinched their first championship in 50 years in Game 6. Antetokounmpo shot 17 of 19 at the free-throw line in the closeout game. 

Weeks earlier, the Bucks had released footage from one of their practices. It showed Antetokounmpo poking fun at his one weakness as a player.

“I’ve seen it all,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’ve air-balled shots in Game 7. I’ve air-balled back-to-back free throws in Oklahoma. I’ve been down here. Only way is up now.”

PJ Tucker, the NBA tough guy who played on the Bucks’ 2021 championship team, seemed tickled by the way Antetokounmpo delivered the lines. Before Tucker was teammates with Antetokounmpo, he spent several years in a supporting role next to James Harden in Houston. The technically proficient Harden was one of the NBA players who was vocal about not being a fan of Antetokounmpo’s game. 

“I wish I could be 7 feet, run and just dunk,” Harden said. “That takes no skill at all. I got to actually learn how to play basketball and how to have skill.”

Antetokounmpo could never lace step-back 3s like Harden, but what Harden failed to acknowledge was that Antetokounmpo’s preparation and mental approach were superior to his. It’s been obvious watching both of their careers that Antetokounmpo takes better care of his body. The head space Antetokounmpo seeks to put himself is also healthier. Harden is calculating, sometimes excessively so. His foul-baiting juiced his regular-season numbers, but he wasn’t as effective in the postseason when those calls dried up. Harden always seemed to be on the search for what was next. He is now on his fourth teams in five years and farther than ever from winning a title.

Last spring, Antetokounmpo’s No. 1-seeded Bucks were upset in the first round by the Miami Heat. Antetokounmpo was asked if the season was a failure. He said that it was not, and he got roasted.

Mocking Antetokounmpo seems misguided. It was his ability to just be that played such a big part in the Bucks winning the championship two years earlier.

In his essay “How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart,” David Foster Wallace wrote about elite athletes’ ability to exist unselfconsciously.

It makes sense why Antetokounmpo goes to a place where the future and past don’t exist, where external expectations are irrelevant. Ego and anxiety are enemies. The past doesn’t have to affect the present, and the the present isn’t the future. There is only the ball and the basket, a belief system that helps explain why a career 70.2% free-throw shooter goes 17 of 19 at the line in the biggest game of his life.