BOSTON -- We don’t know when it’ll happen, but we know it’s happening.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to take off from somewhere outside of the paint for a dunk.
He’s going to go into sky-high mode, soaring through the air with the grace and size of condor only to have Boston’s Aron Baynes standing between him and yet another above-the-rim highlight reel.
In a playoff series that will surely have its share of subplots and twists throughout, here’s one more.
When will Antetokounmpo try and dunk on Aron Baynes?
Because we know as much as Antetokounmpo soars high and above most defenders with ease, Baynes isn’t one to back down or step aside so you can posterize him with a powerful jam which has become almost a given every night when he's on the floor.
Boston Celtics
“I don’t know; it must be the hair,” quipped Baynes in an earlier interview with NBC Sports Boston. “They don’t like my haircut; that’s what it is.”
But being more serious, Baynes added, “My job is to make their shot attempt as hard as possible. That’s not happening if I’m standing there watching them go off and dunk it. I try to get there even if I’m out of position, try to get my body in the right place to make it that bit tougher.”
In a more recent interview with NBC Sports Boston during Boston’s first-round series against the Pacers, Baynes said he doesn’t put a ton of planning into how he plans to defend players who try and dunk on him.
“I don’t really think much about it when I’m out there,” Baynes told NBC Sports Boston. “I just know I got a job to do, just like those guys have a job to do. It’s always fun!”
And not easy for either to get what they want during the inevitable mid-air collision.
“They see me as a challenge; I see them as a challenge,” Baynes said. “We try and meet up top and see how it goes.”
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