🏀 Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Date With Destiny

Giannis is seeking to fulfill what he hopes is his destiny — being an NBA champion and cementing himself as the best player in basketball. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider with Martin Rogers: Giannis Antetokounmpo has gotten to this point not because he is immune to the pressure but simply because he wants to win a title so much that he’ll risk everything to try for it ... Brook and Robin Lopez team up to create a must-see comic book series ... and Messi now has the most liked Instagram sports photo of all time. Giannis Antetokounmpo wears the worry on his brow and if you look closely enough you can almost read the seeds of doubt written among those furrowed lines. You see it when things are going well and it is time to try to hang on to victory and you see it when the Milwaukee Bucks are struggling and it’s time to bid for a comeback. Antetokounmpo isn’t one of those athletes with ice in his veins and unshakeable belief. He has tasted the rare air of being a two-time NBA MVP but he doesn’t yet have the most difficult accolade of all – the one he really wants. As he chases his first title and what would be the Bucks’ first in a half-century, he’s feels the strain. He wears it, lives it and tries to free the jitters from his system with deep breaths when it reaches its most challenging point. [STORY IMAGE 1] As he and his colleagues wage battle against the Phoenix Suns, Antetokounmpo isn’t Tim Duncan or Kobe Bryant. He doesn’t possess as much inner certainty or unapologetic swagger and he isn’t blessed with the utter innate assurance that he will deliver when he is supposed to. In other words ... he is human, which only serves to make him more likable, to make the Bucks’ surge to the very brink of an NBA championship all the more worthy, and his achievements more relatable. Most of us don’t know what it is like to be nearly seven feet tall and in possession of elite level smarts for a sport and a degree of physical dexterity that sometimes defies belief. We don’t know what it is like to soar with perfect timing to administer a block for the ages during an NBA Finals game, or to leap mightily to connect on a game clinching alley-oop that silenced a road crowd. [STORY IMAGE 2] But we all know what it is like to feel stress and to hear the nagging voices of self-doubt when we are presented with great opportunities, to question ourselves and our abilities and to nurse the painful possibility that we may not be up to the task of fulfilling our dream. That’s what Antetokounmpo is going through right now, a young man who has made a new home in a foreign land and is seeking to fulfill what he hopes is his destiny – of being an NBA champion and possibly cementing himself as the best player in basketball. “He’s almost there,” [FS1’s Nick Wright said on “First Things First.”]( “It is the culmination of a lifetime of hard work. (Game 5) was the first NBA Finals game LeBron James attended that he was not playing in. Officially, potentially, if they finish it off, (Giannis takes) the crown from LeBron.” [STORY IMAGE 3] You never know quite what to expect from Antetokounmpo. There are times when he looks simply unstoppable and others when he can be shut down by structured and innovative defensive measures. He’s sometimes clutch and sometimes, frankly, he’s not. But you can bank on this. As the viewing audience and the Suns have found out over these past couple of weeks, he will never stop coming. When times get rough, Antetokounmpo will not shirk from the challenge, even when that means stepping to the free throw line with his shaky delivery under the spotlight and the crowd counting their taunting ascent past ten. He has attacked this Finals series with positivity and energy. He hasn’t been flawless, not at all, and there were times when teammates Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday have been called upon to be the hero, and, before that, when Phoenix's Devin Booker looked to be primed for the series’ most decisive word. With the Bucks crucial road win in Phoenix on Saturday night, opportunity will come knocking. A Suns comeback ([+320 with FOX Bet]( is far from impossible, but it would be a hard sell to envision a pair of blowouts. At some stage, you figure, the Greek Freak and his teammates will feel the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy is close enough to touch, if only they can keep things steady. It is no certain thing. Antetokounmpo doesn’t have the luxury of a collection of titles already behind him, like James or Steph Curry. He’s done a lot in basketball but he’s never been right here, with a place in history so near. He knows this might be Milwaukee’s shot, with the Brooklyn Nets likely to be a strong favorite to emerge from the East next year, if fully fit. He knows now is the moment and he knows how much of it rests upon him. Will he wilt, or does he have one more big effort within him? He earns a really big salary, but this isn’t why he’s doing this. He does it because he wants it, and every part of it is an emotional journey. You see the disappointment when it comes and you see the pure joy too, like during those closing stages on Saturday when, yeah, it really helped Holiday to have a fast-advancing man mountain with outrageous hops and elastic arms to lob it up to on an unexpected fast break with mere seconds left. [STORY IMAGE 4] Antetokounmpo has the mentality of a champion, but not of a ruthless assassin. He has gotten to this point not because he is immune to the pressure but simply because this is what he wants so darn much that he’ll risk everything to try for it. He’ll risk failure and embarrassment. He’ll demand the ball and go for the basket at crunch time, even when he knows Phoenix will try to foul him, which means more free throws, more mocking voices, more tension. These Finals have a lot of stars but the most crucial impact, narrowly, is coming from one man alone. It’s not pure domination and it’s certainly not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. The chance awaits, at home, in Game 6 on Tuesday. “It means a lot, man, but I can’t get too carried away,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “I’ve got to stay in the present. We know what the deal is, one game away from being in the history of this game, always there, nobody can take that away.” Antetokounmpo marches forward, a superhuman physique with a very human mind, taking on his destiny, swallowing his fear, edging ever closer … if he can hold it together just one more time. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Skip Bayless, Undisputed: “When Game 5 ended, I tweeted: 'Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks for winning their first championship since Kareem.'” Chris Broussard, FOX Sports: “Giannis might win a championship without a Superteam. LeBron hasn't really done that, Kevin Durant hasn't really done that. That would be big for Giannis' legacy.” Kevin Wildes, First Things First: “If Giannis can win a title, you could argue Giannis at 26 is better than LeBron at 26.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - The Lopez brothers teamed up to create a comic book series based on basketball. [FOX Sports NBA Writer Yaron Weitzman talks with Robin Lopez about the series](. - John Cena surprised the wrestling world with a return Sunday at Money In The Bank. [FOX Sports WWE Analyst Ryan Satin explains why it’s such a big deal](. - Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson enjoyed a little extracurricular racing this weekend. [FOX Sports NASCAR Writer Bob Pockrass has the story](. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( Allow us to present you with the most liked sports photo on Instagram. Yes, that’s right, this photo of Lionel Messi holding the Copa America trophy following Argentina’s memorable win over Brazil officially became the most liked sports photo in Instagram history, surpassing 20 million likes. The post broke the previous record of 19.8 million likes, which was held by a post from Cristiano Ronaldo paying tribute to Diego Maradona. The post from Messi currently sits at 20.92 million likes and could very-well surpass 21 million likes at some point this week. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Monday Night Raw (USA, 8 p.m. ET) John Cena will open Raw to explain his stunning return. Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) Alec Mills takes the mound for the Chicago Cubs, who take on Jake Woodford and the St. Louis Cardinals. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers: UNDER 8 When Kevin Gausman takes the mound, the San Francisco Giants are must-see baseball. Not only do the Giants sport the best record in Major League Baseball at 58-34, but they are at their best when their ace is on the mound. Gausman, who is in his eighth MLB season, currently sports a 9-3 record with an incredible 1.71 ERA. On the other side, the Dodgers will send Tony Gonsolin to the mound, who has been solid this season in both a relief and starting pitching role. Gonsolin sports a 2.13 ERA and hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in any outing this season. In other words … look for this game to be a low scoring affair. [WHAT THEY SAID] “I do not judge success based on championships; rather, I judge it on how close we came to realizing our potential.” — John Wooden [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download FOX Sports App: [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [Google Play]( [App Store]( [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [App Store]( [Google Play]( Also available on these devices: [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2021 Fox Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. 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