BUCKS WIN AWAY FROM NBA TITLE
Trio of Antetokounmpo, Middleton, Holiday overcomes Booker’s 40 in Game 5 victory
PHOENIX — Jrue Holiday seized his chance to give the Bucks the lead in the NBA Finals.
He took it right out of Devin Booker’s hands, actually.
Holiday’s steal and alley-oop pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo for a dunk sealed a wild Game 5 and gave the Bucks a 123-119 victory Saturday against the Suns and a 3-2 lead in the series.
Antetokounmpo had 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Khris Middleton 29 points and Holiday 27 points and 13 assists.
The Bucks shot their way out of an early 16-point hole, then won it by making a huge defensive play down the stretch for the second consecutive game.
They can win their first NBA since 1971 with a victory in Game 6 on Tuesday in Milwaukee.
‘‘One more to go, one more to go,’’ Antetokounmpo said. ‘‘We’ve got to keep playing good basketball.’’
Booker scored 40 points, his second consecutive 40-point game. But with the Suns rallying and down by one with 16 seconds left, he drove into the middle on the lane, where Holiday wrestled the ball out of his hands.
Antetokounmpo sprinted down the court to his right, and Holiday fired a perfect lob pass that Antetokounmpo slammed down while Chris Paul fouled him to make it 122-119. Antetokounmpo missed the free throw, but the Bucks grabbed the rebound. Middleton then made one free throw for the final point.
Before the defensive stand, the Bucks’ offense was the story. The Bucks made 32 of 45 shots in the middle two quarters, outscoring the Suns 79-53 during that stretch.
The Bucks became the first road team to win in the series and with one more victory will complete its second 2-0 comeback in this postseason — and the fifth in the history of the NBA Finals.
Paul had 21 points and 11 assists and Deandre Ayton 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Suns missed a chance to move a victory away from their first title and will need a victory at Fiserv Forum to bring the series back to the desert for Game 7 on Thursday.
The Bucks were at 62.1% shooting after three quarters and threatened to challenge the Magic’s 62.5% mark against the Lakers in Game 3 of the 2009 Finals. Holiday’s basket had the Bucks in good shape at 108-94 with about nine minutes left, but the Suns put together a push in the final minutes.
After trailing by 10 with just less than 3oe minutes to play, the Suns got a three-pointer from Booker and a basket by Paul to cut their deficit to 120-119 with 56 seconds left. Holiday then missed a jumper, but that didn’t matter once the defensive ace of the Bucks’ backcourt took the ball back from Booker.