By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dominance in the NBA Finals and Nikola Jokic becoming one of the league’s most unlikely MVPs. Anadolu Efes finally getting its dues, Luka Doncic writing a new historic chapter for Slovenia and France climbing at the Olympic podium after a long absence.
These are the Top 10 basketball moments of 2021 in no particular order. From a European (mostly) angle.
Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the Milwaukee Bucks to the Promised Land
From the neighborhood of Sepolia, Athens to the NBA, from selling stuff in the streets to make a living, to becoming an NBA superstar and from the humble rookie beginnings to the top of the basketball world. The shiniest of pages (until the next one) in the Giannis Antetokounmpo saga was written in the 2021 NBA Finals when the Greek Freak handed the Milwaukee Bucks their first championship title in 50 years.
Giannis delivered the promise he had made time and again to the Bucks franchise and the Milwaukee fans that looked at him as the hero who would give them what they have been craving for so long. His performances in the Finals were outstanding and packed with some true epics: The 41 points in the Game 3 win and the beginning of the Bucks’ turnaround (while becoming the third player ever with back-to-back 40+point outputs in the Finals), the massive block on Phoenix Suns center DeAndre Ayton with 1:14 to play in Game 4 and the 50-point masterpiece in the decisive Game 6.
Nikola Jokic named 2021 NBA MVP
For the third year in a row, the NBA MVP came from Europe. After Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020, Nikola Jokic was named league MVP, an absolutely well-deserved honor for one insanely powerful individual season performance.
It wasn’t just a reward for how Jokic registered huge production rates, how he toyed with opponents, the richly diverse ways he influenced the game of the Denver Nuggets or the numerous highlights he created. It was also a recognition of the Serbian big man’s endurance, refusing to sit out a game and insisting that his place is on the floor and not on the sidelines. Going against the “load management” trend to ultimately participate in every regular-season match, the first-ever MVP to do so.