Giannis off to historic start for Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks have struggled in recent years against the Atlanta Hawks, with just three wins in 14 games since the 2012-13 season.
If the Bucks are to take down the 8-2 Hawks, expect Giannis Antetokounmpo to play a big part in victory.
We're obviously been only nine games into the season, but Antetokounmpo is off to a special start.
"The Greek Freak" is averaging 21.3 points, 2.1 blocks and 2.0 steals thus far. Since the 1973-74 season, when blocks and steals were first recorded by the NBA, only five times has a player had averages of 20+ points, 2 blocks and 2 steals over a season. Of those five times, Hakeem Olajuwon did it four times -- every season form 1987-88 to 1990-91 -- while David Robinson made it five straight seasons by accomplishing the feat in 1991-92.
Antetokounmpo is also averaging 8.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists. Here's the five players who have done that over a full season: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Only three other players in the NBA season are averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game: Houston's James Harden, Cleveland's LeBron James and Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook.
One more note on Giannis -- only he and New Orleans' Anthony Davis lead their teams in points, rebounds, blocks and steals.
Other notes:
-- Atlanta's Dennis Schroder (+5.5) and Milwaukee's Jabari Parker (+5.0) rank third and fifth in the Eastern Conference in largest increase in points per game from last season.
-- The Hawks played Tuesday night, but Atlanta is 28-14 since 2014-15 in the second game of a back-to-back, the fourth-best mark in the NBA.
Statistics courtesy STATS and the Milwaukee Bucks
