NBA Finals: Back in Milwaukee, can Bucks turnaround their fortune against Suns

After being bettered by the Phoenix side in the first two games of the best-of-seven NBA Finals series, Milwaukee Bucks will return to their home turf on Sunday with a daunting task ahead of them — beating the Suns, something they haven’t been able to do all season.

Bucks will enter the third game trailing 2-0 and no team in NBA history has ever won a series after dropping the first three games. 

Meanwhile, for both teams, this is the greatest series in their recent history given Milwaukee Bucks won their only title half a century ago and the Suns, on the other hand, are yet to lay their hand on the title since the club began playing in 1968.  

So come Sunday, the Bucks will have to give in their all to still keep hopes alive and knows better about fighting till the end than Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Greek forward has been the only beam of hope in an otherwise lacklustre Bucks’ performance. In the second game, even though the Suns were the runaway winners, Antetokounmpo registered a 42-point performance along with 12 rebounds albeit in a losing cause. 

However, the rest of the team haven’t been able to rise up to the occasion.

Talking just about the second game, Jrue Holiday has shot a combined 11-of-35 from the floor, Khris Middleton has fired a combined 17-of-42 from the floor in the first two games.

Even in the first, the affairs weren’t drastically different. Thanks to Chris Paul and Devon Booker, the Suns registered a 118-105 victory. Although Khris Middleton top-scored for the Milwaukee side with 21 points, Antetokounmpo was there to clear up the rebounds as he registered 17 of them. 

Middleton will have to better his three-point shooting, as it has gone down to 33.8% in the playoffs from just under 42% in the regular season.

Coming to Suns, the formula remains the same, just a lot more of what they have been doing. They know what’s at stake, they have been providing the goods all season, it’s just time for maintaining the nerves.

Phoenix forward Mikal Bridges, who scored 27 points in game two, said the Suns won’t approach Sunday’s game as a series leader.

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“Got to treat it like it’s game one,” Bridges said. “No matter what, our next game is our most important game. Just stay locked in. It’s not over and we got to just got to keep playing our way.”

But for Bucks, this is another test of their perseverance and they can only come out of it together.

“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe,” Bucks standout Pat Connaughton said. “We have a resilient group in that locker room. We’ve been through adversity and the one thing that has remained consistent is we’ve fought through it together.”