Giannis Antetokounmpo is straight up not having a good time at the free-throw line against the Brooklyn Nets. But now the league could be making things a little bit easier for him going forward.
Anthony Puccio of Front Office Sports reported on Tuesday that the NBA has asked the Nets to stop with a certain tactic when the Milwaukee Bucks star is shooting his free throws. The team has been putting up a stopwatch on the Jumbotron to call out any ten-second violations on Antetokounmpo’s part. Puccio says the league has asked Brooklyn to take down the stopwatch.
The reigning back-to-back MVP Antetokounmpo has really struggled from the line through the first two games of the series. He has gone an abysmal 2-for-10. A career 71.7 percent foul shooter, Antetokounmpo was famously whistled for a ten-second violation in a key playoff moment last month.
Of course, free throws are only one aspect of the game. Unfortunately for the Bucks, they are also getting throttled by the Nets in every other area, having lost the first two games of the series by a combined 47 points. The next two games will be played in Milwaukee. If the Bucks don’t get their act together, Antetokounmpo will not even get a chance to take advantage of a stopwatch-less Brooklyn arena.
