Giannis Is Awesome, Space Jam 2, Manifest
A lot more rambling
Full disclosure: I thought I’d be writing a tribute to Chris Paul after these finals. I had the Julius Hodge nut punching story ready to go, and at some point, I’d refer to CP3 as the greatest tattletale in NBA history. But I didn’t want to write some lame obituary to Chris Paul’s greatness. I wanted to write about the new face of the NBA.
The 2021 NBA Finals is the most I’ve cared about non-Knicks basketball in a long time. Sure, I wanted Steph’s Warriors to win and KD’s Warriors to lose, but it wasn’t like this year.
I’ve been a Chris Paul fan since I started watching basketball. Everything was finally coming together for Paul. For once, he was the healthy one while everybody else got hurt.
This was the year of The Point God. Zach Lowe told me.
CP3 didn’t even need to beat the dreaded Brooklyn Nets. All he had to do was beat the Milwaukee Bucks with their coach who didn’t make adjustments and franchise player who didn’t make jumpers.
The Suns were even slight favorites against the Bucks.
It turns out; Phoenix had no answer for this Giannis Antetokounmpo guy. He’s the guy with the two MVPs, five All-Star/All-NBA appearances, and a DPOY award. Most importantly to Giannis, he is a champion now.
The 26-year-old led his Milwaukee Bucks to their first title in 50 years and was named NBA Finals MVP after averaging 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on 61.8 percent shooting.
Giannis did all kinds of historical things during the finals. Especially during his phenomenal Game 6 performance — 50 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks.
Giannis is the only player in NBA history to record 40 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks in an NBA Finals game. Nobody had 10 rebounds and 5 blocks with 40 points. Giannis did it with 50.
With his Game 6 performance, Giannis became the second player to record three 40 point games in the same finals series. The first one was Shaq.
Giannis is the second player in NBA history to have a Finals MVP, 2 MVPs, and a DPOY. The other guy is Michael Jordan.
When you’re in the same sentence as Michael Jordan and Shaq, that’s typically a good thing.
There was immense disrespect for Giannis before, during, and even after he thoroughly dominated the 2021 NBA Finals. While Giannis casually dropped 30 and 15, the haters debated his ideal comic book character like a Buzzfeed article.
No more of that shit.
Jalen Rose called out renowned doofus Kendrick Perkins for all his terrible takes on Giannis and the Bucks.
Giannis doesn’t get constant praise from the league’s other stars on social media. LeBron James didn’t say a word about Giannis’ dominance until the championship was nearly wrapped up.
Giannis is a private guy. Emmanuel Acho — an alleged ex-NFL player/confirmed The Bachelor guest host — tried to warp this into a reason Giannis can’t be the face of the league ahead of someone like LeBron.
But who’s more relatable: The billionaire who was anointed “The Chosen One” at 17 years old or the guy who ordered a 50 piece chicken nugget at Chick-fil-A? We all looked at that order with envy.
There’s never any drama around Giannis. When there was some worry about him signing his supermax deal, Giannis simply told reporters he was leaving negotiations to his agent.
He’s not interested in Hollywood either. Giannis passed on Space Jam 2 because it would’ve interfered with his workout schedule.
Everything is about Giannis right now, and that’s a good thing. Giannis has a rare trait not found in most superstar professional athletes: humility. It’s one of the many things that makes him so likable.
Giannis made one of the most incredible defensive plays in NBA history and politely declined comment on it. He busts his ass in every second of every game. He has no Westbrookian notions about his game — allowing Khris Middleton to be the closer.
We place so much stock on a player’s reputation on whether or not he has a ring and if he can recruit other guys in free agency. Well, Giannis has his ring, and who the fuck wouldn't want to play with the guy? He’s just as happy setting screens as Steph Curry is pulling up from 30. That’s pretty happy.
Giannis plays for the small-market Milwaukee Bucks, and he’s the new face of the league we all love. So much for big market bias. Giannis could play on the fucking moon, and it wouldn’t matter. His energy would radiate to every corner of the earth.
I’m a fan of the first Space Jam. I know it’s not a great movie, but Bill Murray telling Michael Jordan “Larry’s not white. Larry’s clear” about Larry Bird is still funny to me a million years later. I expected to like the sequel for the same reasons I liked the original. I was right.
I don’t know how anyone could watch Space Jam 2 and apply criticism to it — even if they were being paid to. It’s a movie for kids with talking bunnies and an algorithm villain named Al-G Rhythm.
To paraphrase a line from Superbad, “I’m sorry that the Coen Brothers don’t direct the Warner Bros. commercials that I watch. They’re hard to get a hold of, okay?”
If you’re trying to poke holes in the plot of Space Jam 2, you are either a LeBron hater, or you have way too much time on your hands.
The movie was exactly what I thought it would be. It’s LeBron’s love letter to himself combined with many Warner Bros. characters sprinkled in there. Daffy Duck was pretty funny too.
I liked the movie. It was fun, just like the first movie.
If you haven’t seen it, the plot isn’t complicated: LeBron needs to win a basketball game to save his son (Cedric Joe) from Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle).
A lot of people were complaining about all the random Warner Bros. characters that showed up. I thought it was funny. They made you laugh while reminding you that a new Matrix movie is coming out in December!
Streaming recommendation
Manifest (Netflix)
I’m halfway through season one of Manifest, and I’m completely hooked. The show centers around passengers on a plane who suddenly reappear after being presumed dead for more than five years. Think, Lost meets The 4400.
Michaela Stone returns home to find her mom has died and her fiancee is married to her best friend. Not ideal. Meanwhile, everything is hunky-dory with her brother Ben (also on the plane) and his wife. Kinda.
Ben’s son Cal was also on the plane and he didn’t age a day either. Meanwhile, his twin sister Olive is now five years older than him. Awkward.
Oh yeah, and Ben and Michaela are hearing voices that are instructing them what to do (along with the other passengers), Cal can draw the future (I think), and the government is watching everyone. Duh.
I never watched this show on NBC, but Manifest has become one of the most popular shows on Netflix since its cancelation.
The fanbase is diehard — starting the popular #SaveManifest campaign — and the show could be coming back. I need this show to come back.
The first two seasons are currently on Netflix. I highly recommend it.
Some personal news
I joined the team at Knicks Fan TV! Follow KFTV on Twitter or Youtube and check out my Collin Sexton trade article. I’ve got another piece coming soon on Lonzo Ball’s free agency.
I’ve been contemplating starting a newsletter that resembles what I’ve been doing on Medium lately. I want to keep writing about the NBA/Knicks, but I’m also enjoying combining that with movies/TV. If you’d be interested in reading this, let me know.
