Giannis Antetokounmpo was one rebound away from a triple-double on Sunday night and decided to get cute by taking matters into his own hands and creating a rebound for himself. 

The Bucks were up by six points with five seconds left on the clock and Giannis decided to take the basketball the length of the floor and lightly throw it against the backboard to grab his own rebound to give himself his 33rd career triple-double. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo creates his own rebound to secure a triple-double

Originally tweeted by SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) on March 6, 2023.

Yesterday, the NBA decided to rescind Giannis’ triple-double, removing his 10th rebound from the official stat sheet because according to league rules, for a field goal attempt to count as official, a player has to shoot “with the intent to score a field-goal”.

In other words, you have to actually attempt to score. I’m sure Ricky Davis is laughing somewhere. 

Honestly, I don’t have a problem with players doing this. Sure, we can sit here and rip Giannis for stat-padding or being a cheater but at the end of the day, who gives a shit. Let him get his triple-double and keep it moving. 

As for the bettors who took Giannis triple-double on Sunday night, I still don’t see any word on whether the ruling will cost those who wagered. His triple-double player prop was at +1000 in some books, so I’m sure there are a lot of people out there not happy with the NBA’s official ruling. 

This has happened a few times already this season, one of which included James Harden on opening night in the NBA. 

Harden had an assist taken away due to a deflected pass. According to NBA rules, “Assists are given at the discretion of the official scorer, who consults data, other scorekeepers in the NBA office and additional technology to retroactively change his or her decision.” 

Harden had his assist taken away which left bettors furious at the decision. It was then followed with no explanation as to why it was removed from league officials. 

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