{"id":301397,"date":"2021-07-17T05:46:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T02:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bucks-unheralded-big-3-just-two-wins-from-title\/"},"modified":"2021-07-17T05:46:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T02:46:36","slug":"bucks-unheralded-big-3-just-two-wins-from-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bucks-unheralded-big-3-just-two-wins-from-title\/","title":{"rendered":"#Bucks’ unheralded Big 3 just two wins from title"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Bucks’ unheralded Big 3 just two wins from title<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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They aren\u2019t known as the Big 3 for the Bucks. Heck, Khris Middleton didn\u2019t even make the NBA All-Star Game<\/a> this season. Some casual fans may not have heard of him. He doesn\u2019t have a nickname like \u201cThe Beard\u2019\u2019 or \u201cKD.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

But here come the Bucks\u2019 three stars, conquerors of the Nets\u2019 fabled trio, back to the Valley of The Sun.<\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Jrue Holiday will attempt to outshine the Suns\u2019 starry backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker one more time as Milwaukee rides a Finals momentum wave into Phoenix for Game 5 on Saturday. If they Bucks manage to win, you\u2019ll hear the roars of \u201cThe Deer District\u2019\u2019 all the way to Arizona.<\/p>\n

Antetokokompo, Middleton and Holiday were the late-game heroes in a theatrical 109-103 comeback in Game 4, which knotted the series<\/a> at two games apiece. In the final two minutes, Antetokounmpo had an epic block on Deandre Ayton\u2019s alley-oop dunk attempt and Middleton scored 10 straight points. Holiday harassed Paul full-court, hounded him into a nightmarish, turnover-laced contest and made CP3 look all of his 36 years.<\/p>\n

\"Jrue
Jrue Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton<\/figcaption>
Getty Images (3)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI feel like as a team we\u2019re really good at turning the page \u2014 the next one,\u2019\u2019 Antetokounmpo said after Friday\u2019s practice in Phoenix. \u201cI think the team has a great mindset in that. Hopefully we are going to keep doing it moving forward.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

If you think Paul will go down quietly with his first ring on the line, well, he\u2019s not on some of the list of top-5, all-time point guards for nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are coming back home, we got to protect home court,\u2019\u2019 Paul said after the Suns flopped in both contests in Milwaukee. \u201c I hate it, but it\u2019s that simple. We didn\u2019t sweep but one series. This is the Finals. It\u2019s dramatic. We got to protect home court and win the game.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The Bucks were among the expected title contenders when the season commenced. The Suns figured to compete for a playoff spot. But Phoenix doesn\u2019t want this sensational Cinderella season to end bitterly after taking a 2-0 Finals lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re motivated,\u2019\u2019 said Booker, whose 42-point night in Game 4 went for naught. \u201cWe\u2019re embracing this moment. I don\u2019t think at the beginning of the season anybody in this room or anybody in this league expected us to be in the situation that we\u2019re in.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s five turnovers were the lowlight of his 10-point evening in Game 4, but coach Monty Williams is expecting his tiger to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris is fine,\u2019\u2019 Williams said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a person in our locker room that\u2019s not expecting him to not come out and play really well the next game. But his focus is at a high, high level right now. You\u2019re not going to see Chris have those kinds of games frequently. That\u2019s how I would term it: a blip on the screen.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Even in Middleton\u2019s finest hour, Antetokounmpo stole a lot of his spotlight by that one block for the ages. He paid his longtime Brew City partner his due, however, as the Bucks look to win their first title since 1971, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar roamed the paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u2019\u2019 Antetokounmpo said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of hard work that paid off for Khris. I know how great he is. I feel sometimes he doesn\u2019t get app<\/a>reciated enough. He\u2019s a great freaking player. He scored 40 in the NBA Finals and he wasn\u2019t an All-Star this year. What are we talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

The always attacking Greek Freak posted two straight 40-point games before scoring just 26 in Game 4 against the Suns\u2019 so-called \u201cWall\u201d defense. But he got more effective on the drive as the contest rolled on and notched eight assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wall is strong where he has to make that pass out,\u2019\u2019 Middleton said. \u201cSometimes he\u2019s able to break through it. Either way, he does a great job of finding that balance, keeping the defense honest, whether it\u2019s with his playmaking or aggressiveness going to the basket. I think he has been great at that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Booker was great, too, in Game 4, despite foul trouble, but he was outdueled by Middleton at the close. Paul must step up Saturday or he may retire without a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe turning the ball over is not giving us enough shots at the basket,\u2019\u2019 Paul said. \u201cI\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Bucks’ unheralded Big 3 just two wins from title” They aren\u2019t known as the Big 3 for the Bucks. Heck, Khris Middleton didn\u2019t even make the NBA All-Star Game this season. Some casual fans may not have heard of him. He doesn\u2019t have a nickname like \u201cThe Beard\u2019\u2019 or \u201cKD.\u2019\u2019 But here come the Bucks\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/Holiday.Antetokoumpo.Middleton.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[112014,71376,80294,108736,80295,111493,88404],"class_list":["post-301397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-16-21","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jrue-holiday","tag-khris-middleton","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba-finals-2021","tag-phoenix-suns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}