18 points and 17 rebounds in only 24 minutes for Ersan Ilyasova, a dominating performance which was curtailed by the ineptitude of the Hawks (I bet they were wishing they had a beast like Ilyasova right now) and the unfortunate unwritten rules of sportsmanship which state that good players don’t get to keep playing in blowouts.
If I were Ilyasova, I would demand a trade away from Milwaukee, because it’s plainly obvious that Giannis is holding him down. Giannis is great and awesome and I really love having such a good player in Milwaukee, but his MVP-caliber presence is turning what should be high-value stars into mere role-players. Like Ilyasova. Put him on a team where he can do his thing without having his rebounds stolen or his touches un-touched and he could really do damage like this night in and night out.
The last time he had this many rebounds for the Bucks was way back in 2013, when there was no Giannis around to steal his rebounds. The only people he had to battle for boards in that game were Larry “I Hate Basketball” Sanders, Samuel “Fatty-D” Dalembert, and Ekpe “Book Club” Udoh. Sometimes I get nostalgic for those days of Bucks basketball, but I’m pretty sure I’m only nostalgic for the Ilyasova aspects of those days. Frickin’ Marquis Daniels started that game, holy balls.