Live coverage, chat: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Phoenix Suns in Game 5 of the NBA Finals
Bucks #Bucks
Pat Connaughton on the ‘Bucks in 6’ chant
SHARE
SHARE
TWEET
SHARE
Click to expand
UP NEXT
PHOENIX – The Larry O’Brien Trophy is there for the taking for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks bounced back from an early deficit and then survived a tight finish against the Phoenix Suns to earn a 123-119 victory in a pivotal Game 5 on Saturday night, becoming the first road team to win in these NBA Finals.
Milwaukee will have a chance to claim its first NBA championship in 50 years in Game 6 of the best-of-seven series at Fiserv Forum at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Get daily updates on the Packers during the season.
“I can’t get too carried away,” Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “I have to stay in the present. I can’t worry about the outcome.
“Obviously, we know what the deal is. It’s one game away from being an NBA champ, being in the history of this game, being always there. You know, nobody can take that away from you. Doing it in front of our families and our fans, it’s big. It’s going to be big.”
Antetokounmpo had 32 points on 14-for-23 shooting with nine rebounds and six assists. He was so dehydrated after the game that he left his media session to get treatment before he could answer questions. But Antetokounmpo wasn’t going to get ahead of himself when asked about the magnitude of Game 6 at home.
“We’ve got to watch the clips and see what we did well, what we didn’t do well, what can we do better,” he said. “There’s steps to it before the game.
“If we do all these things right and we are disciplined, once the game starts and we play good basketball and we have the energy of the fans because we know they are going to be loud, and we have an opportunity to win the NBA championship, it’s going to be amazing to do it in front of our fans. But there’s more steps until we get there.”
Giannis on playing for the championship in Milwaukee
SHARE
SHARE
TWEET
SHARE
Click to expand
UP NEXT
The Bucks got a strong, unified effort from all of their “Big Three” — Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton (29 points) and Jrue Holiday (27). Along with trusted role player Pat Connaughton, they helped get the Bucks back into the game and then had answers every time Phoenix drew close and got the newly named Footprint Center rocking again.
“Makes everything more balanced and makes life easier for everybody,” Middleton said. “Knowing that we play together and we have everybody clicking on all cylinders, we’re tough to guard.
“Obviously on defense, we can click. We can switch and we know how to have each other’s back. But when we are all playing well, we’re one of the best teams, for sure.”
Related: The reaction to Milwaukee’s thrilling Game 5 win at Phoenix includes a whole lot of memes
Related: Adele, other stars shine at Bucks-Suns Game 5 of the NBA Finals
Box score: Bucks 123, Suns 119
It looked like the game could spiral out of control for the Bucks early. The Suns came out red hot, making 12 of their first 15 shots. Holiday got into quick foul trouble.
Suns guard Devin Booker, who has been a threat to the Bucks all series, had his shooting stroke going early and had 10 points in the first quarter as Phoenix led, 37-21. He finished with a game-high 40 points.
The Bucks kept chipping away, putting together a 9-0 run early in the second quarter to get within 40-37. Milwaukee finally got back to even at 42-42 when Connaughton drained a three.
Milwaukee then grabbed the lead at 50-49 after Bobby Portis converted a three-point play and then sank a triple in the corner at the 5:46 mark.
Connaughton has been big for the Bucks as they’ve won three straight in the series. He had 11 points on Saturday, giving him 33 over the three games. He’s shot 8 for 17 on threes over that span.
“He doesn’t need much,” Holiday said of Connaughton. “He doesn’t need the ball all the time. He knocks down open shots. He’s gritty. He gets there into the paint and offensive rebounds, big defensive rebounds, and he’s one of those role players that honestly is reliable, one of the most reliable that we have on our team. Pat has been huge for us all year, and he’ll continue to do that.”
The Bucks went into halftime with a 64-61 advantage. Per ESPN Stats and Info, the Bucks’ 43 points in the second quarter are the most in a quarter of the Finals since the Cleveland Cavaliers scored 49 against the Warriors in 2017. The Bucks’ total is also tied for the most in a Finals quarter for a road team.
Holiday shook off a 4-for-20 shooting in Game 4. Despite the early foul trouble, he shot 8 for 11 in the first half and scored 17 points while handing out eight assists.
Much like Game 4, Middleton and Booker put on quite a midrange shooting exhibition, especially early in the third quarter. Middleton had 11 points in the first five minutes of the quarter and Booker had 12.
The Bucks kept trying to pull away, going up, 108-94, in the fourth quarter when Holiday sank a left-handed layup with 9:08 to play.
But the Suns found some life after Mikal Bridges and Chris Paul knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to make it 108-100 at the 7:48 mark.
The Bucks always had answers.
After that foray from the Suns, Antetokounmpo had a tough runner that bounced in off the glass.
When Booker scored on a fastbreak layup, Antetokounmpo had another answer with a three-point play.
A three by Bridges and a fallaway jumper from Paul pushed the Suns back to within 113-107 with just over five minutes remaining. Middleton seemed to have quelled the run with a three-point play for a 117-110 lead.
The Suns still wouldn’t go away, getting a three from Paul and two free throws from Deandre Ayton.
A tough triple from Booker closed the Bucks’ lead to 120-117 with 1:24 left, getting the home crowd back to ear-splitting decibel levels. Antetokounmpo then missed two free throws and Paul knocked down a shot to close the gap to 120-119.
Then came the biggest sequence of the game.
Holiday missed a jumper, but made up for it by stripping Booker and getting out on the fast break to feed Antetokounmpo for a dunk as he was fouled by Paul with 13.5 seconds left. Antetokounmpo missed the free throw, but tapped the ball out to Middleton, who was fouled.
Middleton made 1 of 2 free throws for the final margin after Booker and Paul missed shots in the closing seconds.
Bucks fans have adopted a mantra of “Bucks in six.” Now the team can win a championship in six games in front of its home fans.
“We don’t really care if it’s Bucks in whatever, we just want it to be Bucks, right?” Connaughton said. “I think it’s been great to rally the fan base. I think they have actually had it for a few years, so it’s been a cool thing to hear and see. But at the end of the day, we go out there every single night trying to win, trying to represent the city of Milwaukee to the best of our ability.
“We’ve got to do it again. The job’s not done. It was a great win tonight. We had each other’s backs and there was ebbs and flows to the game that I think really brought us together and showed us that we can fight through adversity. But we’ve still got one more.”
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks surge to Game 5 win over Suns, bring 3-2 series lead back to Milwaukee