“Hell nah”, Giannis Antetokounmpo opens up on picking Jayson Tatum first in the All-star draft
Giannis Antetokounmpo says he will pick Jayson Tatum last in the All-star draft while talking to him backstage
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Giannis Antetokounmpo
The stars in the East were joking around before the All-star game in Utah. Giannis Antetokounmpo was selected as All-star captain yet again and was gearing up for the live draft. Celtics star Jayson Tatum said, “If he doesn’t pick me, imma hold a grudge”, to Giannis backstage. “This guy sent me home last year…Do you think I’m gonna pick him? Hell nah“, replied Giannis. ‘The Greek Freak’ was referring to the Eastern Conference semi-finals last year where the Bucks fell to the Celtics in 7 games.
Giannis however was not a man of his word. He ended up selecting Tatum with his first pick of the starters after saying, “He’s my last pick“. Giannis is always full of jokes and this was another memorable moment. Tatum too was laughing while talking to him and shared a warm embrace when he selected him as the first pick. The duo are currently MVP frontrunners and have been the focal point of their team’s success.
Picking Jayson Tatum ended up being a wise choice as he ended up dropping 55 points. Tatum posted the highest score in All-Star game history beating Anthony Davis’ 52. He also as expected, ended up winning All-star MVP as Team Giannis won the game. Giannis beat LeBron for the first time in an All-star game since the captain format was introduced.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum will look to add to their history of playoff battles
The Bucks have met the Celtics in the playoffs 3 times since Jayson Tatum was drafted. The Celtics beat them in 2018 and 2022 while the Bucks won in 2019. However, Milwaukee did win a championship in 2021 when they did not face the Celtics. Boston made the final after beating Milwaukee in 2022 but lost to the Warriors in 6 games.
Giannis Antetokounmpo averages 29 points and 12 rebounds in 19 playoff games against Boston. He has also dropped three 40-point games in the playoffs against Boston with two of them coming in back-to-back games last season. Jayson Tatum averages just 19 points against the Bucks in the playoffs, however, this is due to him being much younger. Tatum was a rookie when they first met and has improved to an MVP candidate since then. Tatum averages 27 points and 6 rebounds in 2022 against the Bucks as the main man of the Celtics.
The Bucks and Celtics are very likely to meet in this season’s playoffs and it promises to be another classic. 2 of their 3 meetings in the last 5 years have gone to 7 games with Boston winning both of them. However, Milwaukee did beat them in just 5 games in 2019 when Giannis was the league MVP and the Bucks made it to the conference finals. These two have never met in a conference final this century and this year might just be the time.
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Anuj Shrikanth Iyer
(290 Articles Published)