18.09.2020
17:08
The Greek, top star of the Milwaukee Bucks that were already eliminated from the playoffs, won the award from LeBron James and James Harden, the other two candidates
September 18, 2020 Share on FacebookShare Share on TwitterTweet Share on WhatsAppShare Giannis Antetokounmpo was chosen for the second consecutive season as the NBA MVP
As happened last season, the NBA announced that the league’s MVP is Giannis Antetokounmpo , the top star of the Milwaukee Bucks who led his team to have the best record during the regular season, but could not avoid the early elimination of the franchise at the hands of the Miami Heat in the league playoffs that are played in the Orlando bubble.
Antetokounmpo easily won the first place in the contest that he shared with two other of the great figures of the NBA: he obtained 85 of the 101 first-place votes that the specialized press issued related to the best basketball in the world. In this way, the Greek added 962 points to win the statuette for the second consecutive year, something that has not happened since Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors won the MVP award in 2015 and 2016.
The Milwaukee number 34 edged out LeBron James , a three-time NBA champion and star of the Los Angeles Lakers. The 23 of the Angelina franchise added 753 points and added 16 first-place votes. James Harden finished in third place with 367 units.
Antetokounmpo made history by winning his second MVP award in consecutive years (AP Photo / Ashley Landis, Pool)
This new award in his career places Antetokounmpo in a select group of other American basketball legend, as he became the 16th player in NBA history to achieve multiple awards for the most valuable of the competition . The others who did it were Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and LeBron James himself. Of this outstanding list, there are only three players who have managed to be considered MVP in three consecutive seasons: Russell, Chamberlain and Bird.
Beyond being chosen again as the most outstanding basketball player of the year, The Greek Freak was installed forever in a category that, until today, only had two legends of this sport as protagonists. Having received the Defensive Player of the Year award, and now with the MVP trophy, the Bucks forward equaled Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only ones to win both trophies in history in the same season.
The legendary 23 of the Chicago Bulls managed to be the best in both categories in the 1987-88 campaign. Perhaps in one of the best individual versions of his career, Jordan finished that season with movie numbers : he averaged 35 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, in addition to a 53 percent shooting efficiency. field. Likewise, Olajuwon, a two-time NBA champion with the Houston Rockets, did it in the first season that MJ was absent from the league after his first retirement . In that 93-94 season that ended with the title for the Texas franchise, the pivot contributed more than 27 points, almost 12 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 3.7 blocks and 1.6 steals in 41 minutes per night.
Jordan won the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year award in the 1987-88 season
After leading his team to finish with a 56-17 record in the regular season – between what was played until March 11 and after the reset in the health bubble – Giannis improved all his statistical records and did in less playing time on average than in 2018-2019 . He finished the new season in the NBA averaging 29.5 points -in shooting from the field he closed with more than 55 percent- 13.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in just over 30 minutes of action per game.
A statistic in which he also showed progress was in shooting behind the 3-point line, since he exceeded 30% on average, an aspect of his game that is the most criticized and in which he will seek to improve to be even much more. complete in the face of his ultimate goal: to win a title in the best basketball in the world.
