HOW.
HOW HOW HOW HOW.
TELL US THE REASON.
Everyone talks about how dominant Giannis is finishing around the basket, but here’s a little known stat for you: Malcolm Brogdon has only missed one… layup the whole year. If he’s trying a layup, you know it’s going to go in. Somehow. Inexplicably. To figure out that stat, I went back and watched all of his layups attempts this year. I had to decide for many of them whether the shot was really a layup or more of a “driving underhand jumper in the paint”. Most of his “missed layups” actually ended up being “missed driving underhand jumpers in the paint”.
He hit nothing but layups and free throws against the Rockets. He did try a three-pointer, because he’s elite at those also, but when you can just drive in and get a guaranteed two points every time, it’s not worth it to shoot from outside. That’s what Giannis already knows, and now he’s taught that lesson to Brogdon.
Oh, and that last free-throw pretty much gave me a heart attack while watching it live, and it happened again while I was making this vid. He really bonked that one right off the front of the rim, but it managed to go in anyway. Such is the life of a 99 percent foul shooter.