Giannis Antetokounmpo hit with two 10-second fouls against Warriors, but calling needs to be more consistent

Giannis Antetokounmpo has returned to his paint-drying free throw routine this season, costing him two more 10-second fouls against the warriors on Tuesday.

Both came in the third quarter with Milwaukee in the midst of opening up a big lead.

You can count for yourself along with this clip. It’s definitely a 10 second count. Probably closer to 12 seconds. They got the call right, but that’s not the problem. The crux of the problem, as TNT’s Stan Van Gundy pointed out on the broadcast, is the inconsistency of those calls. Giannis’ routine is no different every time. If it’s crossing the 10 second threshold once, it’s probably going to do it a lot more than the number of times it’s put into it.

The N.B.A must establish the rule and adhere to it in all craft crews so that it is consistent. If Giannis is constantly nagging them about it, rest assured it will speed up his routine. It’s hard because it’s right on the 10-second line. When it comes blatantly close, officials have an easy call. But when they go past 10 seconds, that’s the gray area in which Giannis continues to exist as a free throw shooter. And this gray area leads to inconsistent judgments.

Bottom line: Don’t make this an arbitrary call. Don’t whistle it sometimes and not sometimes. The NBA, for the sake of the game, and Giannis, needs to figure out how to address this evenly.