Giannis Antetokounmpo had one of the best individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their first title in 50 years.
In an interview with The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the Giannis reflected on his title run, and he was able to overcome a very serious injury to win the NBA championship.
The injury occurred during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Atlanta. He left the game with a knee injury and many believed, at the time, that he would not return at all that season.
However, he returned in Game 2 of the Finals, and he was nothing but dominant to win his first championship of his career. He put up 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists through six games.
“What basically happened is that if my leg had hyperextended one more time, I was done. I was done. There’s nothing to cut that was in there. It was torn already. It was out — (the piece that) protected me from an MCL or ACL (tear).
There’s a thing (in your leg) that protects you when you hyperextend (your knee) that doesn’t let you go all the way back. So that thing was torn. So if I had gone all the way back again, that’d be it for me.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo opens up about the risk of playing through his knee injury in the NBA Finals. "What basically happened is that if my leg had hyperextended one more time, I was done.” Exclusive with @sam_amick: https://t.co/U1EkYh6RVa pic.twitter.com/2KFY1jWPzK — The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) March 21, 2022
Antetokounmpo, 27, was born and raised in Greece to Charles and Veronica, who migrated from Nigeria. Giannis started his career in second division of the Greek Basketball league, before making the jump to the NBA.
He was drafted 15th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He has blossomed into one of the NBA’s All-Time greats.
Despite his relatively young age, Giannis Antetokounmpo is already a 6x All-Star, 5x All-NBA player, 2x MVP, 1x Finals MVP and NBA Champion.
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