National Basketball Association

Milwaukee's Valuable Player

Published Mar. 7, 2020 1:19 p.m. ET

It's settled. The MVP race is settled.

LeBron James led the Los Angeles Lakers past the Milwaukee Bucks on national television on Friday. So, naturally, Giannis Antetokounmpo is your 2019-20 MVP.

A new storyline emerged from the Lakers' 113-103 win over the Bucks.

Outside of Giannis, is Milwaukee really that good?

Think about it. Or, don't even spend time thinking.

Instead, let's look at some numbers.

Yep. For as great as LeBron is, he got 30 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks from his Robin.

Giannis' Robin – Khris Middleton – contributed 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He shot 5-for-19 from the field and 2-for-10 from three.

Middleton is a star.

He's a two-time All-Star, and this year, he's averaging 20.9 points while shooting an impressive 50.4 percent from the field and 43 percent from three.

But he's not Anthony Davis.

You heard that correctly: Davis scored 14 in the fourth quarter alone, eclipsing Middleton's total for the entire evening.

In essence, Antetokounmpo's totals of 32 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists barely made a dent, considering Davis's big night combined with LeBron's LeBron night.

Typical, LBJ.

Friday wasn't about Giannis. It was about his teammates. Which, in turn, made it more about Giannis.

The second-leading scorer for Milwaukee was Donte Divincenzo, who scored 17 points off the bench. The four Bucks starters not named Giannis combined to score 39 points.

It became painfully clear just how valuable the Greek Freak is in Cream City.

Friday night was essentially Giannis vs. LeBron for a majority of the evening, except James had Davis and that was the difference.

To be clear, neither of these teams are anywhere near the top of the conference standings without their respective Batmen.

But Davis is at least capable of being a top dog and has been one before.

The Bucks, on the other hand, have one superhero and a few Commissioner Gordons.

And with that, Giannis has proven to be the Batman of the MVP race.

For the first time in his career, LeBron better fits the role of Robin.