The Bucks they are in advantage. They lost the field factor after losing the first game of the series, they recover it by winning the first outside their fiefdom. The Hawks fell into the State Farm Arena for 102-113 in a clash with a clear green color, the one that the second most important player of Mike Budenholzer knew how to give him this time and how covered he is sometimes by the brightness of the first. Khris Middleton he swept in an extraordinary last quarter in which he scored 20 points, three more than the entire opposing team, for a total of 38 and the small comeback in a final period that they entered from behind on the scoreboard. With it comes the 2-1, favorable to Milwaukee, after this third duel of the still very close Eastern Conference finals.
Middleton, one of the two chosen from the franchise by USA Basketball to go to the Tokyo Games, celebrated the good news with his best game in the decisive phase of the NBA. To the 38 points sumo 11 rebounds and 7 assists. The other who will be an Olympian with the United States, Jrue Holiday, stood out for another bad night in the launches, 2/11, which collided with the good that the rest of the team had, which ended with a 51% of success in the field shots. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points.
The Hawks soaked up the atmosphere of their pavilion, which was nudging from the start. And what a starter. An opening 7-0 staggered the Bucks, who entered on a changed foot. The locals’ game seemed like a wave that gets bigger and bigger as it approaches the beach and, with several shots finishing good attacks and the required accuracy, they crowned. A triple by Trae Young with his now classic celebratory spasm put them up fifteen in the 7th minute. The point guard was out of control, putting in from outside but also incursions that the visitors did not know how to stop. The only antidote for the point bleeding not to seem greater was to put in more, achieving it after the start of a Bobby Portis (15) who would be the appropriate revulsive throughout the night.
Giannis put the pile on. He was stopped in the first quarter, scoring only in two actions, and with three in a row midway through the second he landed in the match. His own had almost completely regained the ground. And pure madness at the edge of the break: a pair of triples, one by Young and another by Huerter with Young’s magic powder still on the ball, put the Hawks up ten, a difference that was nothing at the end of the second act after the answer. of the Bucks from long range as well, finishing off a shot from Pat Connaughton from the corner.
Portis was the Bucks’ bench answer, but on the premises he had an Italian name: Danilo Gallinari (18). Bogdanovic was off the mark and Capela didn’t do as much damage, so Trae Young had to seek other help. It was necessary, especially when before finishing the third period and after a triple from Gallo; Trae Young dropped the ball and one of his feet collided with the referee’s on the wing, causing the Hawks’ star to twist the ankle. Fans held their breath as he left for the locker room, though he returned shortly after. He did it to raise his score to 35 points, but it was going to be of absolutely no use. Khris Middleton was a cyclone when it was needed most.
Two wonderful plays by Antetokounmpo at the low post were joined by Khris Middleton’s dribbling. His three 3-pointers in three minutes helped loosen ballast, which in this case was the Bucks. He went up to 20 points only in that last period while the Hawks, as a whole, scored 17. McMillan’s were not the solid team that they have been these last weeks, they lost the battle by a lot in the paint and some important players hid, but above all they had in front of a player who lights up when he wants and there is no water to put out such a fire.
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