Khris Middleton scored 38 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo added 33 of his own as the Milwaukee Bucks took a 2-1 series lead in their Eastern Conference final series with the Atlanta Hawks with a 113-102 victory in Atlanta on Sunday.
In a game that Atlanta will almost certainly want back, the Bucks didn’t hold a lead in the contest until early in the fourth quarter and managed to turn a 95-88 deficit with 7:32 left to play in the game into a 22-5 run that put Milwaukee up by 10 with 1:32 left and ended the Hawks’ chances.
For all that has been made of the Bucks’ inability to step up in important moments, Sunday’s game proved that this is a team that can, in fact, rise to the occasion.
Here are our takeaways from Milwaukee’s Game 3 win.
Middleton is so much more than a secondary option
In case you were unaware before, Bucks forward Middleton isn’t just one of the “other” guys on Antetokounmpo’s team.
On Sunday, he dropped 38 points on remarkable 15-of-26 shooting from the floor and a 6-for-12 mark from deep. Additionally, Middleton did the brunt of his damage in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Hawks by himself in the frame, 20-17, including 15 points during that game-breaking 22-5 run from Milwaukee.
In the fourth quarter, Middleton shot 8-for-13, hit four triples and even drilled three buckets from mid-range.
As much attention, understandably, as there is on Antetokounmpo, Middleton is Milwaukee’s closer. He’s a more adept shot-maker than the Bucks’ two-time MVP, and can get them in a more varied fashion.
This isn’t to say that Antetokounmpo isn’t valuable, of course — he finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds on 13-for-21 shooting, after all — but the buckets Middleton gets almost always prove to be more timely and impactful, as evidenced by his brilliance on Sunday.
I don’t think I need to repeat myself, but I will anyway damnit! Middleton is the Batman, Giannis is the Robin, and that’s OK!
38 points, 20 in the 4th.. all timely buckets! Carry the hell on… https://t.co/XgqUvp32uy
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) June 28, 2021
Status of Young’s ankle looms large
With about 30 seconds left to play in the third quarter, Hawks star Trae Young accidentally stepped on official Sean Wright’s foot and tweaked his ankle.
Up until that point, Young had 32 points and looked like he was on a real heater, shooting 11-of-19 from the field, and having made five three-pointers already.
He did manage to return to the game, checking back in with 8:44 to play in the fourth, but looked limited as he managed just three points in the fourth on 1-of-4 shooting, including just a 1-for-3 mark from three-point range.
Atlanta couldn’t do anything to slow down Middleton once he caught fire in the fourth, but you have to wonder if the Hawks might’ve at least been able to go basket-for-basket with him had Young not turned his ankle on Wright’s foot.
The budding superstar was looking like he was ready to add to an already impressive resume in his first-ever post-season, but very clearly just couldn’t do it with the bad ankle, and his team suffered because of it.
Young’s status for Game 4 and beyond will likely be the largest storyline to monitor.
McMillan’s Collins usage questionable
John Collins is the second-best player on the Hawks, but he only played about 23 minutes.
If you’re Nate McMillan, that can’t happen.
Yes, he was in foul trouble and McMillan was trying to prevent him from potentially fouling out too early, but Collins picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and didn’t check back into the game until 8:25 left in the fourth quarter. He then didn’t pick up his fifth foul until there was 1:53 left to play in the fourth.
Essentially, McMillan took one of his best players out of the game for an entire quarter with his team only leading by only two points.
There’s obviously no sure way of knowing, but chances are if he trusted Collins a little more to play while in foul trouble, the Hawks could’ve opened up a larger lead heading into the fourth quarter, something that maybe could have changed their fortunes in Sunday’s game.
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