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Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo shoots as the Phoenix Suns, including goalie Devin Booker (1), defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, February 10, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo / Matt York)
PHOENIX – Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 20-foot rider has only found metal over time.
It was a lousy end to a night that was almost a fucking banger for the MVP winner two years in a row.
Antetokounmpo’s 47 points, 11 rebounds and five assists at this stage had been spectacular. But in the end, it was the Bucks turnover on a seat shot by Jae Crowder of the Phoenix Suns and Antetokounmpo’s failed shot at the outstretched arms of a paint-based Deandre Ayton that sealed a victory. from 125-124 Phoenix Wednesday night in Phoenix. Suns Arena.
“I don’t think it was an easy 47. He must have worked for it. I thought our guys fought, ”said Suns coach Monty Williams.
Maybe it wasn’t that the Suns had weakened the Greek Freak as the game progressed. His 23 shots and 21 free throws seemed to come with ease. So Williams wouldn’t go that far.
“When a guy goes like that, one thing that I noticed in my day, when a guy has the ball that much, like, other guys don’t touch him,” Williams said. “They might not have a good feel for the ball, I don’t know.
“All I know is we made him work, you know?” And that’s all you can do. And when we needed to stop against him, we had stops.
The Suns (15-9) won their seventh game in their last eight by surviving it all, plus a three-point first-half play-off by the league’s third-best three-point shooting team.
Milwaukee was 13 of 24 in the first half with guard Bryn Forbes, playing in place of starter Jrue Holiday, scoring five.
The Suns cracked down in the second half by bodying Forbes in transition to keep him from coming off the pin-downs, and the Bucks went 3-for-13 from three points after the break.
Antetokounmpo stepped in from there.
The third quarter saw him sideline Ayton with big problems and score 14 points with the much smaller Crowder scoring him defensively. Antetokounmpo added 16 in the fourth.
“Our defense was decent,” said Suns point guard Chris Paul, who returned from a one-game absence with a hamstring injury. “It was just gadget arms on the edge.”
So the Suns have managed to keep those arms out of the way.
What does Booker think of the final piece?
“That we are in good shape,” he said. “Anytime you can stand in front of him and force him to take pictures like that, you can live with it.
“Obviously he’s a force in the paint business and got us in trouble all night long, but if we keep him out of there – and Deandre was right to cut him and force him into that shot – we will live with the result. . “
Ayton and Antetokounmpo traded punches early on and each had 10 points by the time they came out over eight minutes into the game. Their teams were stuck at 32 points each at the end of the first quarter.
Phoenix shot 64% in the first quarter but allowed Milwaukee to keep pace with six three-point marks, completing Antetokounmpo’s drive.
The barrage continued into the second quarter, but the Suns’ offensive execution did not.
During the period, Phoenix returned the ball six times, leading to seven points. The Bucks also had eight quick break points.
Forbes caught fire. During the stretch of the Bucks’ lead that reached 16 points in the second quarter, Forbes came out of a screen in front of the Suns bench – Williams stood a few yards from the field, pointing the wide-open Buck, more close that any of his players as a Bucks guard knocked down three more.
Milwaukee held a 71-59 halftime lead, but Antetokounmpo did everything he could to sideline Phoenix.
Still, the Suns were in good mental space at halftime. They went on an 11-2 push to close a heavy third quarter as Booker scored 11 of his 30 on the night.
Phoenix followed 101-98 as the fourth approached and opened the final stanza by hitting three straight three runs to cut that run down to 20-2, taking a 107-101 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Its farmers took over from there.
Booker scored five points and missed a few more good looks in the fourth, plus a late free throw that, with 32 seconds left, would have put Phoenix by two.
“Besides missing a free throw, I think we played well in the streak,” Booker said.
Paul, who scored 28 points to go with eight assists, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter. Like Booker, he himself missed a few pretty open glances that he kicked himself for afterwards.
“We’re finally starting to get what we want, making sure we at least get what we want down the stretch,” Paul said of the tandem in the backcourt. “I think we are learning to play well with each other.”
Offensively, the Suns evened things at the end of the night, finishing with 15 threes – one less than the Bucks – with 48% accuracy. Defensively, they rebounded as a gang and got saves behind a massive frontcourt effort from Crowder (14 rebounds), Frank Kaminsky (14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) and Ayton (17 points, seven rebounds).
The young team’s winning games included Crowder’s chair-pull savvy.
Then came Ayton holding his ground on Antetokounmpo’s last attempt.
“DA, he had big problems, but the main thing for me was not to lose his mind, so we were able to put him back at the end, and he was keeping (center) Brook (Lopez),” Williams said , noting that the Suns handed Ayton over to Antetokounmpo for the final game.
“He gave a great competition. For everything that is said about DA, this kid, he has so many abilities and he uses them.
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