Giannis Antetokounmpo hurdles defender for sick alley-oop jam
Whatever right ankle injury Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained on Sunday clearly wasn’t bothering him on Tuesday Night. This was no more apparent than when the Greek Freak vaulted over the 6-foot-6 Tim Hardaway Jr. to finish a beautifully placed lob pass in transition.
The do-it-all small forward human clearing jam down the runway was the highlight of the night in the association. Unfortunately for basketball fans across the world, one of the lowest points of this NBA season came moments earlier when Kristaps Porzingis landed awkwardly following a dunk and immediately collapsed to the floor in pain.
The Unicorn’s slam over fellow All-Star Antetokounmpo was a play to remember, but what followed was something every Knicks fan would like to forget. Though his monster mash was certainly nothing like the Greek Freak hurdling a grown man, KP’s injury was as equally devastating to New York’s premiere franchise as Giannis’ jam was to Hardaway’s pride.
To add literal insult to injury, the Knicks quickly lost control of the game and succumbed to a 103-89 loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks. To make matters worse, not only did the injury take the life out of the building, but after confirmation that Porzingis had indeed torn the ACL in his left knee, it sucked any breath of playoff hopes that the New York Knicks still had.
While the Knicks can pretty much call it a season and pad their lottery chances with more losses, the Bucks are on a roll. Milwaukee’s front office knew it was time to send former head coach Jason Kidd packing when they fired him a few weeks ago, but even they couldn’t have predicted the complete 180 their franchise would take.
The Bucks are now 7-1 under interim head coach Joe Prunty and a season-high seven games over .500. Superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was reluctant to the change at first, but since rejoining the team following a battle with a nagging knee injury has fit in flawlessly.
Antetokounmpo scored 23 points and supporting stars Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton combined for 43 points in the Bucks victory. Jabari Parker continued to play on a minutes retraction to monitor his rehab process, but he still managed to score in double-figures for the third straight game since his February 2nd return.
The young Buck was a budding star before his second major knee injury, but it appears Parker has become a possible trade chip to be bargained for Milwaukee. The Bucks have neither confirmed or denied his availability, though his name has popped up in more than a few trade rumors.
Should Milwaukee decide to retain the promising combo forward, Parker could prove useful as a true secondary scorer to compliment Giannis Antetokounmpo come playoff time. If not, Parker could have a real chance to prove his worth and establish himself as the true face of a franchise that many executives thought he could be when he was drafted into the league second overall by the Bucks.
