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Bucks' 50-year wait ends with a title behind 50 from Giannis

Giannis Antetokounmpo capped one of the greatest NBA Finals ever with 50 points — and a championship Milwaukee waited 50 years to win again

Via AP news wire
Wednesday 21 July 2021 04:50 BST
APTOPIX NBA Finals Suns Bucks Basketball
APTOPIX NBA Finals Suns Bucks Basketball (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

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Giannis Antetokounmpo ended one of the greatest NBA Finals ever with 50 points — and a championship Milwaukee waited 50 years to win again.

Antetokounmpo had 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 105-98 on Tuesday night to win the series 4-2.

It was the third game this series with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds for Antetokounmpo, a dominant, debut finals performance that takes its place among some of the game's greatest.

He shot 16 for 25 from the field and made an unbelievable 17-of-19 free throws — a spectacular performance for any shooter, let alone one who was hitting just 55.6% in the postseason and was ridiculed for it at times.

He hopped around the court waving his arms with 20 seconds remaining to encourage fans to cheer, but it was way too late for that.

Their voices had been booming inside and outside for hours by then, having waited 50 years to celebrate a winner after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson led the Bucks to the championship in 1971.

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