It’s hard for me to be critical of Giannis on a night when he scored 47 points…but the Bucks needed 49.
Milwaukee admirably fought back to tie the game late in the 4th quarter in Phoenix on Wednesday night, but ultimately fell to the Suns 125 to 124.
Giannis had a chance to win it at the buzzer.
An inbound pass, two dribbles, and a jumper.
Clank. Back iron.
It was a good look.
Not an easy look, but a good look. An open look.
If the Bucks want to win an NBA Championship, those open looks have to start going down.
I don’t know why tiptoe around this, so I’ll say it: Giannis is a bad shooter.
He’s a 2-time MVP, a dominant force, one of the best basketball players on the planet, but a horrible jump shooter.
Those things can coexist.
See Example 1A: Shaquille O’Neal.
There’s just no consistency, no regularity, no rhythm, no feel with his jumper.
He’s constantly working on it, but we’ve yet to see real, meaningful improvement.
LeBron had this same problem early in his career.
He fixed it.
Giannis has not.
I’m not asking Giannis to be LeBron or Reggie Miller or Ray Allen.
He just needs to be a threat.
If he’s not, opponents won’t respect his jumper.
They’ll let him shoot and seal off his lanes to the basket.
And we’ve all seen that movie before come playoff time.
It doesn’t have a happy ending.
