Sometimes, you’ve just got to admire the hard work that a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo puts in. After all, the man’s already won two MVPs, led his team to an NBA title and won the Finals MVP, and has made generational money.

Yet, he still seems to be singularly focused on being a dominant force in the NBA. His latest run has seen him accomplish an astounding feat. He’s scored more points than his minutes played in his last eight games. During that stretch, his lowest output was 30 points in 29 minutes while his highest was 40 points in 35 minutes.

Antetokounmpo is currently averaging 32.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. That scoring average is the highest of his career so far, and is currently good for second place behind Luka Doncic’s 32.9 points per game. He’s been leading the Milwaukee Bucks to wins too, as their 18-6 record is second to the Boston Celtics’ 21-5 record in the Eastern Conference. While the Celtics are looking near-unstoppable at the moment, the Bucks are keeping things close enough that a few bad games for Boston could help them reach first place.

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The Greek Freak, in his usual style, is having fun with the game of basketball. You still get the sense that he genuinely loves what he does and is aware of how blessed he is.

The Bucks are rolling too, having won eight of their last 11 games. They’ve now also just welcomed back Khris Middleton, who missed the first quarter of the season while recovering from an injury. Middleton’s return is extremely important as the Bucks have a difficult schedule for the rest of December.

They’ll be facing the following teams in that span:

  • Dallas
  • Houston
  • Golden State
  • Memphis
  • Utah
  • New Orleans
  • Cleveland
  • Brooklyn
  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Minnesota

Only Houston and Minnesota are currently out of the top 10 teams in their conference with the latter sitting in 11th place in a historically tight Western Conference race. Antetokounmpo will need to continue being at his best if they’re going to maintain their second seed, and will be especially keen on winning their games against Boston and Cleveland – the two teams they’re sandwiched in between.