MILWAUKEE _ Giannis Antetokounmpo was sitting on the bench and the Milwaukee Bucks' seemingly comfortable lead was melting away.
Fast.
Three successive dunks by Marquese Chriss brought the Phoenix Suns within one point and had the BMO Harris Bradley Center crowd of 16,051 on edge.
And where was Giannis?
Coach Jason Kidd inserted him back in the lineup with 45.4 seconds left and the Bucks escaped with a 100-96 victory on Sunday afternoon when Tony Snell buried a 3-pointer from the corner with 8.3 seconds left.
Kidd's master plan nearly backfired after he thought the Bucks (26-31) were in control and pulled Antetokounmpo out of the lineup with 5:33 remaining and his team leading by nine points.
"That's a call you have to live with," Kidd said. "I was fine with sitting him. I was thinking ahead. We have a game (Monday) in Cleveland and I thought the game was under control.
"Can this group finish the game out? Being a young team, it didn't work out that way but it is a learning experience. Hopefully, the next time we are in that situation we can finish the game without our best player on the floor."
On Snell's decisive 3-pointer, Antetokounmpo patiently dribbled outside the arc before swinging the ball to Malcolm Brogdon, who found Snell.
"Giannis made a great play; he trusted his teammate," Snell said. "Brogdon made a great play, driving and kicking and I was ready."
Antetokounmpo finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and the Bucks got a huge second-half boost from Brogdon. The rookie guard scored all 15 of his points in the second half on 6-of-8 shooting and had five of his seven assists. Michael Beasley had 17 points off the bench.
"I just tried to come in and be aggressive," Brogdon said. "When you're playing with Giannis, Khris (Middleton) and Greg (Monroe), the lanes open up and you get a lot of open shots. Those guys trust me to make shots.
"He (Antetokounmpo) attracts so much attention. I've just got to be ready to catch and shoot, catch and drive and get people open."
Brogdon entered the game with 6:05 left in the third quarter and the Bucks trailing, 62-56. He played the rest of the way after Matthew Dellavedova struggled to an 0-for-6 shooting performance in 24 minutes. The Bucks outscored the Suns, 21-11, in the rest of the quarter to take a 77-73 lead.
"I thought Malcolm played a great second half," Kidd said. "Giannis made a lot of great reads. Beasley was awesome."
Chriss' dunks nearly turned the game around and he had a chance to give the Suns the lead with 30 seconds left after being fouled by Snell on the fast break.
But Chriss missed badly on two free throws, allowing the Bucks to keep a 97-96 lead and setting up Snell's clutch shot.
T.J. Warren paced the Suns (18-41) with 23 points and Alan Williams had 17 off the bench. Devin Booker added 15 but he sat for much of the fourth quarter while former Bucks player Jared Dudley, Tyler Ulis and Leandro Barbosa played significant time.
Brogdon admitted it was a close call in the end.
"They made a run; they capitalized off our mistakes. I thought we did a decent job closing it out.
"We had a little bit of a lapse, but we finished the game. We've struggled with that in the past. I thought today we showed a little bit of maturity."
