“What Khris has done today is unreal. It has been incredible. The way he’s led the team to the end …What we have seen today is greatness. As simple as that“These are the words of Giannis Antetokounmpo that he did not come out of his amazement at the end of the game by what he had been privileged to see. Your partner Khris Middleton he had had one of the best performances in a fourth quarter in Playoff history.
Because scoring 20 points in the last 10 minutes of a playoff game is out of reach for many, Middleton is the first to do so at Milwaukke in Wisconsin’s last 25 postseason runs. But do it and incidentally win the Riva team in the partialHim, that is out of the reach of almost everyone.
This was the third game of the series between the Bucks and Hawks in its premiere at the State Farm in Atlanta. The final decisive period ended: Middleton 20-17 Hawks, in one of the most surreal moments that are remembered in the Playoffs.
The merit of Middleton is that the Hawks faced that last quarter with an advantage, 85-83, and their leadership and 20 of their final 38 points propelled Milwaukee to win the last quarter 17-30.
What this third game has shown is that the Bucks rely less on Antetokounmpo than Young’s Hawks. If the Greek fails, and he didn’t, the team can lean on Middleton and survive. Atlanta, without Young, is lost.
The Bucks haven’t won a conference final since 1974, the second they won (they have two), and they were still in the West then. Those were the days when Milwaukee was NBA elite with Oscar Roberton y Kareem Abdul-Jabbar like banners.
Now, Giannis Antetokounmpo is close to fulfilling what he said when he was about to renew for the Bucks: “I want to win the ring with Milwaukee“At the moment he has the first title in the East of the franchise (the third in conference) and reach the last step, the NBA final, after two seasons of frustrations.
Against the Hawks he returned to sign extraordinary numbers, 33 points, 11 rebounds. Led the team for much of the crash and mistreated the defense of his rival especially in areas close to the rim. And he knew how to leave the scene when required by the script, in his partner’s last magical room. So do true leaders.
Bring young was again at the height of the first game. Maybe not so much (48 points that day), but at least it was better than the second. However, in the third quarter he suffered a mishap that could have marked the rest of the duel.
The Hawks base sprained ankle in a fortuitous clash with a referee, which reduced his production in the end and, according to him: “It limited my speed. It was very frustrating“The Hawks will do an MRI of Young’s ankle to check the extent of the injury, praying all they know is nothing serious.”I will do my best to be in the room. That’s the plan, “said the point guard at the end of the game.
Many times the value of a player is measured by the points he achieves, or the rebounds he captures. But there are other players whose measure is different. PJ Tucker played for 34 minutes at State Farm and only shot 3 times to basket, including two triples of which one scored.
When you’re a scorer, the coach asks you to shoot. But Tucker is anything but a scorer. He works like nobody else, defends any player on the court (we already saw what he is capable of against Durant) and his help is one of those considered necessary for a team to be champion. More and more reminiscent of Dennis Rodman’s role in the Bulls they won three ring. He was capable of not shooting a single shot to the basket but his influence on victories was enormous.
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