National Basketball Association

Giannis Antetokounmpo stole the show, and Game 4 for the Bucks, with one play

Updated Jul. 15, 2021 6:29 p.m. ET

By Yaron Weitzman
FOX Sports NBA Writer

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks hadn’t led since midway through the second quarter. That’s the first thing you should know.

To that point, Game 4 of these NBA Finals had been a slog for both the Bucks and the Phoenix Suns, a fitting tribute to this turbulent NBA season. Passes were dropped. Shots were bricked. Calls were missed. The Suns, thanks to the masterful shooting of Devin Booker (who’d finish with a game-high 42 points), had stretched their lead to seven midway through the fourth quarter, but then Khris Middleton (who’d finish with a team-high 40 points) found his touch. The Bucks clawed their way back, and with 1:28 left in the game, Middleton buried a 19-foot jumper, giving the Bucks their first lead of the second half.

That’s when it — "The Block"? Or will we come up with something more creative? — happened, allowing the Bucks to cling to their lead, which would eventually turn into a series-tying 109-103 home win. You’ve no doubt watched the clip a dozen times by now, slowing it down to count just how many laws of physics it defied.

The Suns’ play had worked to perfection. Booker had curled off a screen, fielded a handoff above the 3-point line from Deandre Ayton and turned the right corner. Ayton rumbled to the rim past Giannis Antetokounmpo, who stepped up to prevent Booker from rising for one of his feathery jumpers. The Suns had forced the Bucks to react and then reacted properly themselves. They did everything right.

"I thought I was going to get dunked on, to be honest with you," Antetokounmpo would say later.

But that’s the thing about basketball and the NBA in particular. You know all those clichés about there being no "I" in "team" and wholes being greater than the sums of their parts? At this level, they no longer apply. Individual greatness trumps all. It’s like having access to a cheat code, a joker that can be played on any hand.

Antetokounmpo is that, and the block captured everything that makes him great and, literally, one-of-a-kind. If he were any smaller, if he were any slower, if his brain weren't able to process the action on the court with the speed and savvy of a supercomputer, Ayton slams the ball through the hoop. Think of it like this: Is there another person in the history of mankind who could have recovered to Ayton and rejected that shot the way Antetokounmpo did?

"It was one of those ‘oh, s---’ moments," Middleton said after the game.

Bucks guard Pat Connaughton went even further. "It's the best block of all time," he said, adding: "Giannis was guarding the pick-and-roll. That's a play that they have done time and time again. Book threw a great pass, threw it high and away from any defender, and Giannis was able to recover. He's Defensive Player of the Year, two-time MVP for a reason, and I think it's those types of plays — to be able to read where Ayton is, where the ball is and to have the athleticism to get that high and get literally all of the basketball — is why I would give the edge to him."

And yet, despite all that, the block didn’t seal the win. The Bucks missed two shots on the next possession. They needed Antetokounmpo to throw them on his back one more time, and so, with 34 seconds left, he did just that.

Chris Paul had come off a screen on the left wing, with no one but Antetokounmpo between him and the rim. Paul put his head down to attack. That’s when Antetokounmpo poked the ball away, triggering a fastbreak, which led to a game-securing Middleton layup. Antetokounmpo, gassed, watched the bucket front the opposite baseline, where he clutched his shorts and pumped his fist.

He’d given everything he had and found ways to not only leave his imprint on the game but also seize control of it despite struggling to generate points. After back-to-back 40-point games, he finished with only 26. He took just 19 shots.

The Suns had tweaked their defense, sending extra bodies at him around the hoop even when he didn’t have the ball. The aggression he employed in Games 2 and 3 had disappeared. But he found other ways to dominate, pulling down 14 boards, dishing out eight assists, registering three steals and two blocks, springing Middleton free with screen after screen, proving once again that he’s more than just an athletic freak, more than just a high-flying dunk machine who coasts on his physical ability.

The Bucks shot 40% from the field, connected on just seven of their 29 looks from deep and allowed the Suns to make 50% of their shots. Yet, somehow, they held on for a win. Middleton’s offense kept them alive, but in the end, just as it has been all postseason, it was Antetokounmpo’s greatness, his relentless will, his refusal to concede, that captured the win.

"We wanted this bad," he said after the game.

Players say this all the time. Antetokounmpo is different. With him you see it.

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports and the author of "Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports." Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.