Antetokounmpo hurting, but Bucks not going away
As remarkable as Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in delivering MVPcaliber performances during the NBA Finals while playing with an injured knee, there have been games in which he was good but not great.
Good hadn’t been good enough for a Milwaukee Bucks win — until Game 4.
And while Antetokounmpo will likely need to be great again, his teammates must prove they can deliver on the road the way they have at home. The Bucks and Suns are tied 22 as the series returns to Phoenix for Game 5 on Saturday.
The Bucks need to maintain what they found in Milwaukee to rally from a ninepoint, fourthquarter deficit in a 109103 Game 4 victory Wednesday.
“Going down the stretch, we kept believing in ourselves,” Antetokounmpo said after Game 4. “We kept executing, setting screens. We kept running, we kept rebounding the ball, we kept blocking shots. We wanted this bad, and the team showed it tonight. But we’ve got to keep getting better.”
Antetokounmpo has averaged 32.3 points, 14 rebounds and 5.5 assists in the Finals despite hyperextending his left knee in the Bucks’ previous series, causing him to miss the last two games of the Eastern Conference finals. But the Bucks showed in Game 4 that they can beat the Suns even when their twotime MVP isn’t at his absolute best.
Antetokounmpo had 26 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in Game 4. Those numbers would make just about any other NBA player envious, but they actually represented a step back after Antetokounmpo delivered backtoback performances of over 40 points and 10 rebounds in Games 2 and 3.
It was Khris Middleton — not Antetokounmpo — who scored 40 points to lead the Bucks to their comefrombehind victory. Middleton reeled off eight straight points in the closing minutes to help the Bucks turn a 9997 deficit into a 10599 lead.
Antetokounmpo said Middleton’s Game 4 performance was “incredible,” then added:
“We need him to keep doing it. We are within reach of our goals.”