Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Beyond Delusional If He Thinks The Fouls On Him Have Been Close To Flagrant

(Yahoo Sports) - A four-point halftime lead turned into a third-quarter blitz as Antetokounmpo scored 15, hitting both of his triples as the Bucks stretched their lead to 25.

It was the physicality of Aron Baynes, Al Horford and Marcus Morris Sr. that caught Antetokounmpo and his teammates off-guard in the opener, and that style wasn’t turned down in Game 2. Antetokounmpo was just more prepared for it Tuesday night, and understood the rules of engagement: not everything, if anything, will be called by the refs.

“When they hit you, you get off-balance,” Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports after the game. “You gotta be able to play through the contact, and it’s gonna be a lot of contact this series. If that’s how it’s gonna be, that’s how it’s gonna be.”

How many defenders does he see when taking those long strides to the basket, the ones that came with such ease against the Detroit Pistons in the first round?

“When I drive, I’m not playing one against one. It’s one against two, one against three,” he said.

Or four.

“Sometimes, when I’m coming down in transition, it’s crazy.”

It felt like the Celtics employed their own brand of the Jordan Rules — the Giannis rules, one might say. Baynes isn’t afraid to throw his body around, and Horford is a master of angles, with quick hands, quicker feet and an ability to know precisely where the help defense will come.

Antetokounmpo wouldn’t call it dirty, but he certainly made note of the increased attention paid his way. He went to the foul line 18 times in 31 minutes, following his 5-of-10 free-throw showing in Game 1.

“How much extra can you get? You can get physical, but at the end of the day, I can use that to my advantage,” Antetokounmpo said. “You can play to the limits of fouling. They definitely play to the limits of [flagrant] fouling.”

When I saw this quote come across my timeline, I almost didn’t believe it. I wanted to ignore it because I figured that maybe this was out of context or something, that there’s no way this is an actual statement by Giannis. Then I read the story and it sure as shit seems like he’s being serious that the Celtics have been “playing the limits” of flagrant fouling. I’m sorry, am I taking crazy pills? Can you point to ONE foul that has even been remotely close to being considered flagrant? Just because the Celtics bigs and defenders aren’t a bunch of bitches and there’s a giant difference between running into Aron Baynes and any other living human does not mean that things have been close to flagrant. In fact, we have video evidence to prove it

Go ahead, tell me which one of those is “playing to the limits of flagrant fouling”. I’m not even one of those people who think Giannis never gets fouled and the refs still give him calls. The Celtics foul the shit out of him just like everyone else does because that’s just how he plays. You’re going to foul Giannis whether you like it or not. That’s why I didn’t really get worked up about his 18 FTA from the other night because he is one of those rare players that actually earns his calls for the most part. But this? This is pathetic. I understand the gamesmanship and all that, their coach did it after Game 1 talking about getting no calls on drives and all that, but give me a fucking break with this.

This is such an outrageous statement I almost still don’t want to believe this is what he meant and something got lost in translation, because the actual video evidence suggests things haven’t even been close. Not to mention this is the playoffs, where everyone knows things get more physical anyway. The way he’s talking in that story you would think the Celts have been trying all this dirty shit, going for his headed and not making a play on the ball. None of that is happening.

Giannis is an incredible talent and one of the most terrifying players I have ever seen on a basketball court. He’s virtually unstoppable when he wants to get to his spot on the floor, but not even Bucks fans can deny this is some of the weakest shit you’ve ever heard. Flagrant fouls? Grow up.

All I know is Friday needs to hurry the hell up already