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Milwaukee looks for spark at Fiserv Forum, but Suns are a strong road squad
MILWAUKEE — For the second time this postseason, the Bucks have staggered home with a 2-0 deficit and key players not shooting straight.
Bucks fans waited 47 years to see the NBA Finals return to their city. They will end up watching Chris Paul, Devin Booker and the Suns celebrate a championship at Fiserv Forum if the home team can’t turn things around quickly.
“We’ve been down 0-2 before,” Bucks All-Star Khris Middleton said. “Not saying we can do the same exact thing we did last time. It’s going to be tough. That’s a great team. But we’ve just got to stay the course.”
Game 3 is Sunday, the first NBA Finals game in Milwaukee since 1974 figuring to be a raucous scene inside and outside the arena.
The Suns are ready.
“We’ve got to be us, we’ve got to be the hungrier team, and that’s what we’ll do,” Paul said. The Suns had two double-digit victories in Phoenix, where they were largely in control throughout the second half in both games. No team has overcome a 3-0 deficit in the NBA Finals, so the Bucks’ situation is dire.
But they battled back from a situation that appeared just as bleak last month.
The Bucks dropped two games in Brooklyn to start the Eastern Conference semifinals and were even less competitive there than they were in Phoenix. Milwaukee trailed by 49 points in Game 2 on its way to a 125-86 loss.
“Game 2 we got smacked, embarrassed,” Middleton said. “A lot of people thought our season was done. We believed in ourselves.”
The Bucks took the next two at home to even things up and won the series in a Game 7 thriller in Brooklyn, but they had some help in that comeback. Kyrie Irving missed the last three games with a sprained ankle, and James Harden played through them without much speed because of a hamstring strain, leaving the Nets without much good guard play.
No such luck for the Bucks this time. Booker and Paul have combined for 113 points, passing the Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson (106 in 2018) for the most points from a starting backcourt through the first two games of an NBA Finals in the last 50 years. The Bucks can’t count on a change of scenery to change the way the Suns will attack them.
“It’s the Finals; we’re playing for the prize,” Booker said. “I don’t think there’s going to be a storm that we haven’t seen.”
The Bucks are 7-1 at home in the postseason, but now they welcome what was the NBA’s best traveling team. The Suns were 24-12 on the road during the regular season and have gone 6-2 in the postseason, closing out all three of their series in their opponents’ buildings.
Booker thinks the strict coronavirus protocols this season strengthened team bonding because of the time spent together in hotels.
Paul has a different explanation for the Suns’ road success: “It’s nice when you can silence a crowd. It’s fun, it’s entertaining. We have the right mindset for it.”
Middleton shot 5-for-16 in Game 2, and Jrue Holiday put up 4-for-14 and 7-for-21 clunkers in Phoenix. He has the task of trying to guard Booker and Paul, perhaps sapping some of the effort he can give on the other end.
“The effort that it takes and that we’re putting that on his shoulders defensively is significant,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “But it’s the playoffs. It’s the Finals. I think everybody has got to be able to do it at a high level on both ends of the court.”
With Holiday and Middleton struggling in the 118-108 loss Thursday, the Bucks were again far off their NBA-leading average of 120.1 points during the regular season. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a playoff career-high 42 points, but he needs more help.