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Even before the Nets traded for James Harden in January, expectations were sky high for a Brooklyn team that appeared to have all the pieces necessary for a title run.
The Beard’s arrival amplified that thinking to the nth degree.
In the end, though, the Nets’ high hopes were never realized. Injuries played a big part in derailing Brooklyn’s dream, with its 115-111 loss to Milwaukee in Game 7 of their second-round series serving as the final dagger.
In the end, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had 40 points and 13 rebounds in his team’s series-sealing win, had the last laugh.
… or was it LeBron James?
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LeBron Trolls Giannis’ Brother
Antetokounmpo’s imprint on the second-round series was massive, of course. Even before dropping 40 points on Saturday’s Game 7, the two-time NBA MVP averaged 30.5 points and 12.8 rebounds through the first six games of the series.
MVP-caliber numbers.
The same could not be said for Thanasis Antetokounmpo.
Thanasis, Giannis’ older brother and also a forward for the Bucks, averaged just 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per game for Milwaukee during the regular season, and it’s been a similar story for the 28-year-old in the postseason. Through the first six games of the second round, Thanasis averaged 0.8 points and 0.5 rebounds in 3.9 minutes per game.
Not exactly MVP numbers.
But Thanasis is advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals just the same as his brother. That fact tickled one of the NBA’s best.
Josiah Johnson, who owns one of the most popular accounts in the world of NBA Twitter, took to Twitter after the game on Saturday night to hammer home the point about Thanasis advancing with his brother, using a perfectly meshed video clip and caption.
The video clip came from the 1997 Chris Tucker-led film Money Talks. In the 11-second clip, two men celebrate a successful prison break as they make off in a helicopter. Tucker is there, too, a successful escapee himself thanks only to the fact that he was handcuffed to one of them and they had no choice but to bring him along for the ride.
“We made it!” Tucker exclaims.
Johnson’s caption was perfect:
Johnson’s tweet had 30,000 likes within three hours of him posting it. It even drew the attention of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
LeBron used 12 laughing emojis to convey his thoughts.
And the rest of NBA Twitter laughed along with James.
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Giannis Weighs in on Game 7 Win
The Bucks had to do it on the road, facing the odds-on favorite to win the title heading into the postseason, and against two of the game’s brightest stars in Kevin Durant and Harden.
In spite of all of that, they found a way.
“We’ve all worked extremely hard to be in this moment… and I’m not talking about basketball, I’m talking about life,” Giannis said after the Game 7 win, via the NBA on Twitter. “I wanted everybody to live up this moment, to fill this moment, to cherish the moment. Because we are built for this. That’s why we are here. No matter the pressure, no matter what’s going on, we are built for this. We believe in who we are.”
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