Player rankings: Superstar Giannis, KD's hot shooting and more

— -- Is there anything that? Giannis Antetokounmpo can't do on a basketball court?

The young Milwaukee Bucks forward continues his rise up our weekly and season-long NBA player rankings.

Outscore LeBron James to upset the Cleveland Cavaliers? No problem. Assist on four straight possessions to put a game away on the road? Sure thing. Swat five shots while also leading the team in rebounds? No big deal.

Though Anthony Davis once again led the field in average game score, Antetokounmpo put on a clinic en route to finishing second, slightly ahead of Kevin Durant?(by fractions of a point). With it being easily his best week of the season and the Greek Freak turning 22 on Tuesday, it's a good time to spotlight the young Buck who put it all together in his last week as a 21-year-old.

For a player who fills up as many categories as he does, it's fairly remarkable that this is the first time this season that Antetokounmpo finished in the top 10 league-wide in average game score -- especially since he's averaging 22.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game.

When you bring efficiency and defense into the equation, Antetokounmpo's week really stands out.

Antetokounmpo and Russell Westbrook were the only players to finish in the top 20 among all players in PPG, RPG and APG last week. The biggest difference between the two? Westbrook shot 38 percent, tied for 36th in steals and did not tally a block. It's a stark contrast to Milwaukee's 6-foot-11 point guard, who led all players in steals and tied for second in blocks per game. For the season, Antetokounmpo is up to sixth in ESPN's defensive real plus-minus (RPM) and ranks ninth overall in RPM.

When he's on the floor, Milwaukee improves in pretty much all facets of the game. The offense is 10 points better per 100 possessions and the defense is more than five points better. The Bucks shoot better, turn it over less frequently, force more turnovers and have a higher assist percentage. About the only area the Bucks haven't been better this season with Antetokounmpo on the floor is on the glass, partially because even without him they are one of the biggest teams in the NBA. All of that individual stat-stuffing has elevated play on a team level as well, vitally important to Milwaukee's overall prospects not only for this season but beyond.

Yes, that impressive 17-point win over the Cavaliers was also accompanied with wins over the Nets and Magic (and a one-point loss to San Antonio on Monday night), but Milwaukee needs those victories to stay in the playoff race in the East. At 10-9 in a wide-open conference, the Bucks have a 51.1 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN's Basketball Power Index. Given that they've played the third-easiest schedule so far, according to BPI, and face an upcoming slate in which seven of their next eight games come against playoff teams from last season, every win is important to their postseason chances.

Back to Giannis. Despite not ranking in the top 10 in any single week, he entered last week ranked 13th in average game score, which is a reflection of his incredible consistency this year. He has scored in double figures and posted at least five rebounds in every game, something James, Durant and? DeMarcus Cousins have not done. Through 18 games this season Antetokounmpo has topped 400 points, 150 rebounds, 100 assists and 40 blocked shots. According to research by Elias Sports Bureau, since blocked shots became an official statistic in 1973-74, the only player to reach those thresholds in fewer than 20 games is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1978-79. Over the past 30 years, Tracy McGrady is the only player with as many assists, rebounds, steals and blocks as Giannis by his 22nd birthday.

Antetokounmpo now sits at seventh in our season-long rankings.

Best of the rest

• This was actually the third week that Davis finished with the top average game score, meaning he has ranked first in half of our six weeks. On Sunday, he had 20 points and 10 boards at the half, something he has done four times since the start of last season. Nobody else has done it even once over that span. He averaged 33.0 PPG for the week (best in the NBA) and did it while averaging more than two steals and blocks per game. The only player to average more combined steals and blocks this week is the birthday boy himself, Mr. Antetokounmpo.
• Moving up to second in our cumulative rankings is Durant, who once again finished in the top three for the week. He has finished in our top six in all but one week this season. Durant shot 49 percent from the field, which was actually the first week this season that he did not shoot better than 50 percent. However, he did average 10.3 RPG, his most since the opening week.
• Gordon Hayward continues to have a big season for the Jazz. Hayward averaged a hair under 30 PPG for a Jazz team that went 3-1 last week and has won five of its last six games. Hayward was the only Utah player who had a better plus-minus than the team's overall scoring margin. Utah was outscored by 14 without Hayward on the floor and was plus-48 with him on the floor.