Giannis antetokounmpo years in nba12/3/2023 ![]() By the end of that season, it was Middleton getting rotational minutes in Detroit over English. Middleton and English were sent to the Developmental League (now the G League) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for three games a week, just to get some playing time. It’s all he knew,” said English, now the head coach at George Mason University. ![]() Give a bucket, damn sure he was getting a bucket. With the Pistons, after every practice or before every game, he and fellow rookie Kim English would go head-to-head, one-on-one. Middleton was a power forward at Texas A&M and then a knee injury sent him tumbling to Detroit in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft. It’s just that Antetokounmpo’s were of focaccia laid on a straight line while Middleton’s were more of the Butternut variety, winding here and there before the trails linked. Over eight years, multiple contract extensions and all-star appearances, the stories of Antetokounmpo and Middleton’s post-practice one-on-one sessions in the early going of their partnership are well worn.īut no one - even members of the Bucks front office, coaches, teammates - could know what the result would be.Īll they had were hints, trails of breadcrumbs. They were natural, private moments seen by millions, born out of hundreds of uncomfortable hours seen by few and truly understood by fewer. ![]() ![]() On Tuesday night, with Middleton squeezing the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Antetokounmpo turned to him. He knows how much I put into the game and we knew how much everybody put into the game.” “I mean, just love those moments,” Middleton said. The enduring image of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton’s partnership occurred on July 14, with 7.3 seconds left in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns.Īntetokounmpo dropped his head on Middleton’s left shoulder, their arms wrapped around one another. embodied the toughness and hustle of the city they represent Blood and guts before hugs and tears More: Giannis Antetokounmpo scores 50 points and wins a first title for Milwaukee in 50 years “I feel like Giannis is the soul of this team, and without them, man, we really wouldn't be here.” “Khris is the heart of this team,” Jrue Holiday said. That thing - call it heart, work ethic, the competitive spirit - became the steel cable that not only bound the two men but became the foundation laid in the basement of a 15-win first season together up to the penthouse of an NBA championship. ![]() From there, no longer was it one-on-one but a pair of calloused craftsmen. They had already beaten up each other in practices for three years to prove to the organization, to teammates - and to each other - what they already knew of themselves. “You know, that's when I realized, yeah, that's the guy I want to be on the line with and go through the journey with.” “He gave everything for the team and for us,” Antetokounmpo said of Middleton, who still averaged 38½ minutes a night in that series. Months after Terry vowed to himself he would do anything Antetokounmpo asked, the Milwaukee Bucks’ budding superstar found out just how similarly built Khris Middleton was.ĭuring their first-round playoff series against Toronto in the spring of 2017, Middleton came down with an illness that didn’t allow him to eat, sucked the fluids from his body, and sent him to the hospital. This kid wants to win,” Terry thought to himself. “This kid is different - he ain’t playin’ for money. Seventeen years his new teammate’s senior, Terry was taken aback by the 22-year-old’s screen saver: The Larry O’Brien Trophy. 18, 2022, to make it free to all readers.Īn unattended phone broke the silence of an empty locker room in the winter of 2016, and Jason Terry peeked inside Giannis Antetokounmpo’s locker. ![]()
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