The Milwaukee Bucks may be out of the NBA Playoffs, but the postseason accolades are rolling in for a couple of their stars. On Friday night, the NBA announced its First and Second All NBA Defense Teams. Among other stars, the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday were honored with placements on these teams.
Giannis (1st) and Jrue (2nd) have made the 2022 NBA All-Defense teams 👏🏻 (via @NBAPR) pic.twitter.com/ks54oK69aV
— Bucks Lead (@BucksLead) May 21, 2022
Giannis Antetokounmpo Earns First Team All-Defense
This is a familiar phrase at this point. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been named the the First Team All-Defense for the fourth season in a row. The two-time MVP was also one of the three finalists for this season’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. In addition to his offensive prowess, Giannis averaged 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
The Bucks honored Giannis’ fourth straight selection with this video on Twitter:
He didn't become the All-time Franchise Leader in blocks for nothing. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/k7MKaMgahk
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 21, 2022
An interesting note: both Joel Emiid and Nikola Jokic, who were both MVP finalists along with Giannis, were not on any NBA All-Defense teams. Jokic won the MVP Award for the second year in a row.
Jrue Holiday Earn Second Team All-Defense Honors
Jrue Holiday was named to a NBA All-Defense Team for the fourth time in the past five seasons. He was named to the First team in the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons. Holiday was also named to the Second Team in 2019-20. This past season, Holiday averaged 1.6 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. Interestingly, this is not the first time Holiday averaged 1.6 steals per game. It is not even the second time. In fact, he has averaged 1.6 steals in eight of his 13 NBA seasons. This includes the last four seasons in a row.
Jrue Holiday: a difference-maker. pic.twitter.com/n1Pmxxr0VE
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 21, 2022
For the Milwaukee Bucks, this is their fourth straight season with multiple players on the All NBA Defense Teams. In 2018-19, Giannis was joined by Eric Bledsoe on the First Team. The next season, Giannis made the First Team while Bledsoe and Brook Lopez were on the Second Team. Last year, both Giannis and Holiday were on the First Team.
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