Two weeks ago, after the Miami Heat, the number eight seed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference, had eliminated the number one seed, the Milwaukee Bucks, four games to one in the first round of the playoffs, Giannis Antetokounmpo, was asked by a reporter at the post-series press conference if he viewed the season as a failure.
Giannis, who led the Bucks to the NBA title two seasons ago, and was twice voted as the league’s Most Valuable Player (2019, 2020), had spearheaded his team to the league’s best record in the 2022-23 NBA regular season, with 58 wins and 24 losses. The question, which really should have been posed to either the team’s coach (who was fired a few days later), or the general manager, drew a philosophical response from Giannis worthy of further pondering.
After listening to the question, Giannis paused for a few moments, bowed his head, then observed that the reporter had asked the same question last year when the number two seed, Boston Celtics, had knocked out the third seeded Bucks in seven games in the second round. He initiated his response by asking the reporter if he worked towards a goal every year, whilst noting that he was not trying to make it personal. He stated that if the reporter did not achieve his annual goal, whether it was getting a promotion or taking care of his parents, it was not a failure but rather steps to success. Giannis then noted that Michael Jordan had played for 15 years and won six championships before asking rhetorically if the other nine years were failures. He added, “There is no failure in sports. There are good days, bad days. Some days you are able to be successful, some days you are not. Some days it’s your turn. Some days it’s not your turn, and that’s what sports is about. You don’t always win, some other people will win. And this year somebody else will win. Simple as that. We’re going to come back next year, try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better, not have a ten-day stretch of playing bad basketball. You know, so we can win a championship.”
Media critics of the seven-foot tall Giannis, which there will always be despite his exceptional athleticism and versatility making him one of the best all-round players in the league, will overlook the back injury he sustained during the first game versus Miami, leading to his departure after 11 minutes, and his absence in the next two games. Instead, they will cite his five-year supermax contract inked in December 2020, which guarantees him US$228 million through the 2024/25 season, and try to lay the ‘failure’ in the playoffs squarely at his feet. They will point to Milwaukee blowing big leads in the last two games, most notably the 16-point advantage at the start of the fourth quarter of the fifth game, and Giannis’ 13 missed free throws in the same game. As the best player on the best team during the season, they will say it’s all his fault. In the eyes of several media personalities, the Milwaukee Bucks’ season was a failure.
Unfortunately, today’s society has adopted a-win-at-all-costs attitude in everything we participate in. The concept that the Milwaukee Bucks losing a playoff series is perceived as an abysmal failure indicates just how low the perceptions of reality have sunk. Not only is Giannis’ injury overlooked, but there is the apparent disregard for the fact that basketball is a team sport. Then, because blame has to be laid on someone, the coach is fired. Mike Budenholzer, the coach who guided the Bucks to their second NBA title two years ago, their first since 1971, was given his pink slip after five seasons, during which the team won five division titles. How does firing the coach, as in this instance, improve the situation? It doesn’t. It only serves to reaffirm the owner’s ego that he is in charge, and that he has the final word on the team. From a logical standpoint, this decision actually creates instability within the team. Players are now sure to be wary of any directives from the front office. The NBA’s San Antonio Spurs have had one head coach for the last 27 years, while the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers have had three head coaches in the past 54 years. As the model franchises in their respective leagues enjoying long-term stability, despite ups and downs over the years, they have become the flagships which attract the premium free agents.
However, it is becoming the rule in some areas in life for the acceptance of losing to be a non-starter. Defeated parties will do any and everything conceivable to reject and overturn the results. Of course, this obtains in the political arena, everywhere. We have had to listen to former US President Donald Trump’s continuous plethora of lies about rigged elections. Here, we witnessed first hand the APNU+AFC Coalition government’s failure to accept defeat in a vote of confidence motion in Parliament by the employment of delaying manoeuvres and then circuitous attempts to reject defeat in a general election vote.
What is it about politicians that they are unable to accept losing? Why do they think they are entitled to win at every turn? Did they ever experience losing in games as children? Life is a roller coaster of highs and lows, wins and losses, and we have to be prepared to roll with the punches, an essential lesson which most of us (obviously, not all) endeavour to pass on to our children at an early age, by encouraging them to participate in team sports.
Giannis might be a superman on the basketball court, where, during the 2016-17 season, he became the first player in NBA history to finish a regular season in the Top 20 in all five major statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, but in life, he is very well grounded and a realist. His answer to the question of failure should be passed to our younger generation.
