Game 5 : A Greek Holiday in the Middle

When Milwaukee's three best players are at their best, there might not be a collection of players out there that can beat them. There were moments when all three came together in Game 5.

None of those moments occurred in the first quarter. The Suns blaster the Bucks 37-21 in the first and it wasn't even that close. The Bucks had more turnovers in the first than they did in all of Game 4. Devin Booker went off, proving himself to be a scoring machine and frustrating P.J. Tucker to no end. At one point, Booker dunked on the Greek Freak and taunted him, although it had already been called a foul before. Jrue Holiday went out with two early fouls.

This season in the NBA there has been lots of blowouts and wild swings mostly because one team just doesn't bring it. It has been a trying season. In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the second quarter featured a wild swing that lasted into the start of the fourth. Milwaukee came roaring back because of great play from their stars.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was struggle a bit to score in the first half. So he flashed his other skills. He had 6 assists, almost all incredible passes utilizing his amazing court-vision. He grabbed 9 meaningful rebounds including five on the offensive glass. He is a strong defender on the ball, in the post, or coming from the weakside.

And oh by the way, he finished with a team high 32 points.

Giannis has been criticized for coming out of a couple games early and looking tired out on the floor. The criticism in ridiculous. The guys works about three times as hard as the average player. He works his butt off on both sides of the floor and doesn't stop until a rebound is secured (often by him). Meanwhile, he is also involved in almost every transition play. Give the guy a break.

Khris Middleton is primarily a scorer. He finished with 29. But he is also a good passer, defender, and rebounder. He added 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Jrue Holiday came back from his foul trouble and had one of his best games of his career. Holiday had 27 points on 60% shooting, but that doesn't tell the story. The shots he made were incredible. At one point, he faded to the baseline and Deandre Ayton contested and still made it. It seemed like every contested shot went in. He is an elite defender and contributed 13 assists and 3 steals.

While Milwaukee seemed like they would run Phoenix out of the building, the Suns are a very good team as well. Chris Paul had a quiet game, but came on in the fourth and finished with good numbers (21 points, 11 assists, 1 turnover). Ayton's numbers were also a bit better than the game he played. He had 20 points and 10 rebounds. He doesn't get cheap rebounds either. The Suns mostly rebounded better than in the last two games.

Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder were productive for the Suns while Pat Connaughton was effective off the bench.

The Sun crawled to within three on a long Booker three. CP3's layup cut it to one with less than a minute to go. With 30 seconds left, the Suns had the ball with a chance to take the lead. Booker drove into the lane where several Bucks were waiting. Holiday crept in from behind and ripped the ball away. He flew down the court and threw an alley oop to Giannis who flushed it and was fouled.

Antetokounmpo missed the free throw but grabbed the board/ Middleton hit 1 of 2 from the line to ice the game at 123-119. The Bucks are one win away from their first title in 50 years.