Sweet home Milwaukee.
It was a different team and a different Finals in Game 3 for the Bucks, who bulldozed the Suns 120-100 behind Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dominance and kept alive their title hopes.
The Bucks now trail 2-1 to Phoenix, a much more comfortable position than their insurmountable alternative heading into Sunday.
They also have a healthy Antetokounmpo, who imposed his will and performed up to his MVP status while collecting 41 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. The Bucks led throughout and broke it open in the third quarter with a 22-point advantage.
We have ourselves a series.
“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Antetokounmpo said.
The Suns were playing catchup all night and were running with iron boots. They were miserable from beyond the arc, especially Devin Booker, who missed six of his seven treys and shot 3-of-14 overall. He sat the entire fourth quarter, and Chris Paul (19 points, nine assists) couldn’t carry the visitors by himself.
Milwaukee’s greatest improvement from its Game 2 dud was Antetokounmpo’s free throws.
The Greek Freak was cozier at Fiserv Forum while hitting 13 of his 17 foul shots, avoiding his usual misadventures at the line. The friendly crowd kept quiet during his lengthy free throw routine, a stark contrast to the distracting chants in Phoenix.
“Just try to focus on myself, focus on my technique, focus on my body,” Antetokounmpo said. “Once you see a few go in, you get more confidence.”
Overall, Antetokounmpo shot 14 for 23 from the field. He joined Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James as the only players to score 40 points with 10 rebounds in consecutive Finals games.
Sunday represented Milwaukee’s first Finals win in nearly 50 years, or the first since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson were Bucks teammates. There were concerns it wouldn’t happen in these Finals. Milwaukee was beaten rather soundly in the opening two games, leaving them in their must-win position of Sunday. They gained confidence, however, from their second-round series against the Nets, when Milwaukee recovered from a 2-0 deficit (and a 39-point defeat in Game 2) to advance in 7.
“Game 2 (against the Nets) we got smacked, embarrassed. A lot of people thought our season was done,” said Khris Middleton, who scored 19 points in 41 minutes Sunday. “We still believed in ourselves. We came back and had an ugly grind-it-out game that we found a way to win. Sometimes it’s not going to be pretty. Sometimes it’s going to be ugly. We just got to find a way to win one game at a time from here on out.”
Phoenix, meanwhile, was vowing not to let up the intensity on the road.
“I think there were some games in the previous series (against the Clippers) where we didn’t bring it. Simple as that,” Booker said. “And not on the make-or-miss didn’t bring it; just from the energy standpoint, energy and effort.
“I think since that game we have picked it up in that regard. We understand we can’t control if we make or miss shots, but the 50/50 balls and the intensity throughout the team can always have another level.”
The Suns’ problem Sunday wasn’t intensity. They missed shots. And Antetokuonmpo pounced at home.
