Talk about some bulletin board material.
Tonight, Giannis Antetokounmpo is looking to silence critics who are skeptical of his skillset, thanks to some backhanded disparaging comments made by fellow MVP candidate James Harden from the Houston Rockets in a home game against the West’s fifth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, set to tip-off at the top of the hour at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
In what has felt like a day-long debate over whether Harden’s comments about the reigning MVP’s skillset of “being 7-foot and dunking the ball not skillful enough” coming by way of an interview Harden ha, the OKC Thunder might just be in the crossroads of an I’ll-show-you-all kind of game from the likes of Antetokounmpo, and since most athletes at the top of their game don’t appreciate being talked down to like that from a colleague of theirs, (I guess you could consider James his not-so-good friend now) expect Giannis to play with the same, fuming aggression that’s helped get his Bucks atop the hierarchy of elite NBA teams, as they still possess the league’s best record with just about two full months of a regular season to go.
Giannis’ right-hand man Khris Middleton won’t suit up for this game due to neck soreness, and in his place steps in the evolving Donte DiVincenzo (9.1 ppg. off 45.5 percent from the field off the bench). The Villanova standout has become quite an integral part of this team’s rotation, and one would predict that he will get plenty of defensive reps against the guard-heavy OKC lineup that features the likes of Chris Paul (17.5 ppg., 5 rpg., 6.7 apg.), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (19.4 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 3.3 apg.) and Dennis Schröder (19 ppg., 3.8 rpg., 4.1 apg.) all in their starting lineup.
In Milwaukee’s last game, not only did they the ubiquitous and boasting Drake with a snapshot of his disappointment inside the Scotiabank Arena last Tuesday but overcame the hot first half by the Toronto Raptors and the unique lineup combinations put forth by Nick Nurse to win via a 108-97 score. Middleton poured in 22, 17 of which came in the second half, and Giannis had 19 points, 19 boards, and eight assists in a rousing comeback against the East’s second-best team. That win gave them their 50th win on the year, and it isn’t even March.
As it goes for the resilient OKC, who decided at season’s beginnings that this wouldn’t be a rebuilding season of any sort, overcame a 19-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings in front of their thousand-plus patrons inside of Chesapeake Energy Arena.
You have to give Sam Presti and Billy Donavan a ton of credit for how this season has gone. Not only did Presti command a King’s ransom for Paul George and Russell Westbrook this offseason as they shipped both players to the Rockets and Clippers this past summer, but now his own team is merely a few games back in the loss column from the teams to which he shipped his players. This team’s balance is commendable and with the help of Danilo Gallinari, who pitched in a team-high 24 points in the win against Sacramento, it’s hard to not love how hard this thunder team plays, and just how fun they are to watch whenever they take the floor.
These two squads face off in the Fiserv Forum, Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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