“In sport there is no failure“. It’s Giannis’ manifesto Antetokounmpothe star NBA eliminated with his Milwaukee Bucks from the title race. The Greek winger, one of the strongest players in the modern era of basketball, exploited a question from a journalist from The Athletic for one talk a lot deep on the sense of sport and a much abused word in the media circus, failure.
When asked if a season ended at the first round of the playoffs, after finishing the regular season with the best win-loss ratio, was to be considered a failure, Antetokounmpo shook his head and huffed: “You asked me the same question last year, Eric,” she said, emphasizing that her reply was not one criticism addressed to the journalist. Then she expanded on her reasoning: “Do you happen to get one promotion every year in your job? I don’t think so, so you consider your work a failure whenever it doesn’t happen? I would say no. You strive to get other results, to get you treatment of your family, buy a house and many other things. It’s not a failure, but it’s a necessary step to try and win.”
Antetokounmpo’s speech comes at a time when the attention towards the pressure on sportsmen it is very high. And there are several examples of champions who have decided to slow down their business, or even stop, due to excessive stress related to the expectations of victory. “Michael Jordan – recalled the Greek player – was 15 years in the NBA, he won six titles: were the other nine years a failure by chance? Are you really telling me this?”
So it was even more exhaustive: “Why are you asking me this question? You have to understand that in sport there is no logic of failure. There are the good days and the bad ones, sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. There are moments when you realize it’s your turn and others you have to step aside: it’s there basic logic of sport, you can’t always win”. The Bucks had finished the season with the best winning record and were the seeded number 1 to the playoffs, but were defeated by Miami Heat per 4-1suffering their last loss in overtime despite i 38 points made by Antetokounmpo who also collected 20 rebounds.
Giannis and failure.
Words to frame.#otnba pic.twitter.com/T6cqNl5cDe— OverTime Stories in Spicchi (@StorieASpicchi) April 27, 2023