With the 2021 NBA Finals underway, BasketballNews.com will have you covered every step up the way with the top storylines, breakdowns, player quotes and more. Here are Spencer Davies' observations from the Milwaukee Bucks' perspective after their 123-119 win in Game 5:
Going back on the road with a tied series after falling into an 0-2 hole in the NBA Finals, the Milwaukee Bucks’ resilience was on full display, grinding their way yet again to a third straight win over the Phoenix Suns, 123-119. In a shocking turn of events, the Bucks are one victory away from an NBA championship.
Falling behind by as much as 16 points in the first quarter, Milwaukee stormed back and outscored the Suns 79-53 over the next two periods, flipping the momentum to stun the crowd at the newly-named Footprint Center. Although the Suns would make a run and cut it down to a one-point game in the final minute, timely plays and critical shots from the Bucks’ Big Three allowed the road team to close this one out.
“I feel like we don't stop,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said after rallying to the win. “I feel like -- I've been a part of different teams. Usually when you're down 15 or 16 or whatever, down 0-2 or whatever the case might be, you kind of like, stop. You kind of stop competing in a way. But I feel like this team, we don't do that. We haven't done that all year long, I think. I can't remember, I can't go that far back, but we keep competing...because we know the game is long; it's 48 minutes, and we always try to put ourselves in a position to win the game. That's all you can ask for.
“You go into a game, you don't know if you're going to win the game but you know if we compete for 48 minutes, we are good. We have great players, great closers, great shooters, great rebounders, great defenders, have a great coach and we know that we can put ourselves in a position to win the game.”
“I think they have been in a lot of close games,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. ‘It's a very mature group. There's a lot of confidence. I think there's a natural poise with the group. We don't necessarily talk about it, but you can feel it in the huddles.”
With 27 points and 13 assists, Jrue Holiday had his finest offensive game of the series, but it was his defense that propelled Milwaukee to the finish line. As the clock wound down and Phoenix had the ball with 29.2 seconds left down one, Devin Booker drove on PJ Tucker and forced him left. Holiday was at the nail, and ripped the Suns’ star to begin a fastbreak, which ultimately ended up being the exclamation point to a sensational night. The Bucks guard wisely pushed the pace without rushing, and lobbed the ball from the left perimeter to a rising Giannis Antetokounmpo with a full head of steam.
“Honestly it was great team defense,” Holiday said. I feel like we knew Booker wanted to take that last shot and played great defense on him and made him turn his back and he turned right into me. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time...I was going to [pull the ball out and wait to get fouled after the steal], and Chris I think kind of played in between, but Giannis took off and he was calling for the ball.”
“Big time. Big-time steal. Showing a crowd, they didn't get to the spot and he came from behind and ripped the ball out,” Giannis added. “He can go down to the other end and just, you know, go for like a full play, run the clock down. But he trusted me and made an incredible pass, also, for the lob. It was big time. It was a big-time play. It was the winning play of the game.”
This angle of Jrue's steal and alley-oop to Giannis 👀 #NBAFinals
— NBA TV (@NBATV) July 18, 2021
(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/ott2ECyc7N
As the pair flexed in celebration, their connection took the wind out of the sails of every Suns fan in the arena.
“At that point, I just threw it as high as I could and only where Giannis could go get it, and he went up there, got it...they don't call him the Freak for nothing. I threw it as high as I could,” Holiday said.
“I saw Chris Paul and then I started sprinting, and I saw nobody was around me. He didn't want to throw me the ball at first, but I was like, ‘Throw it, throw it, throw it,’” Giannis said. And then he threw it. He trusted me. After the game I was like, Thank you for trusting me. He could throw it and make a wrong pass and that would be on him as the point guard. The coach would say, You're supposed to keep the ball. But he trusted me and he knows I'm going to finish the play. That says a lot to me. I went up to him after the game and I told him that, too.”
While Holiday was delivering on his playmaking, pull-up jumpers and threes, Giannis was asserting himself on the block, and for another night, was extremely decisive and quick-witted, committing zero turnovers. If he wasn’t using the hook shot or a short-range turnaround, he was finding an open teammate. There was no lull in the game that we’ve seen in the past, no hesitancy on the next move or no foolish shots being taken.
“He did a great job,” Middleton said of Giannis. “The same randomness with the traps on the pick-and-rolls, they double-teamed him randomly on the block throughout the game and a couple times during the series. He's been doing a great job knowing when he could sometimes beat it, and knowing when they are coming in, finding that outlet out and letting us attack on the back side and also knowing when they are not coming. He's done a great job, for sure.”
Despite a modest 11 attempts at the free-throw line, Giannis put plenty of pressure on the rim and continued to make a gigantic impact on the interior, including a pair of putback jams and a backtap off his own miss at the charity stripe that basically sealed the game. Giannis produced a 32-point, 9-rebound, 6-assist stat line.
Of course, we can’t forget about the ice in Middleton’s veins. It was a rather rocky start for Milwaukee’s scoring assassin, making just one of his first seven shots and only having nine points at halftime. However, Middleton began to turn on the jets in the third quarter, cashing in on difficult look after difficult look. He was nailing threes, contested baseline mid-rangers, off-balance jumpers -- you name it. And when money time came around, Middleton delivered as he has in pivotal games all postseason long, notching 20 of his 29 points in the second half.