The Bucks have been here before.
Milwaukee is down 2-0 in the NBA Finals after Thursday night’s 118-108 Game 2 loss in Phoenix. But for better or worse, that’s just staying on-brand for the rest of their postseason.
“I think no matter what we say, we know what the deal is. It’s as simple as that. We’ve got to go back home and do our job,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo. “They did their job. We’ve got to do our job. We’ve been here before and we were able to get the job done.
“Hopefully we can put ourselves in position and we can believe in one another and we can play together and we can have fun. We can compete and we can dive on the floor, we can make shots, put ourselves in a position to win the game. But like we know what the deal is, man. Like we got to go back home and protect home.”
The Bucks dropped the first two games of the Eastern Conference semis to Brooklyn, only to storm back and beat the Nets. Then they lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals to Atlanta, and rallied to take that as well.
They head back to Fiserv Forum for Game 3 on Sunday knowing they’re well-versed in comebacks.
Antetkounmpo poured in 42 points, including 20 points in the third quarter, the highest-scoring NBA Finals period of the past 25 years.
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James had shared that honor with 19 points, the former in 2014 and the latter four years later.
The Greek Freak shot 5-of-6 in the third, and 9-of-14 from the free throw line. At one juncture he scored 13 straight Bucks points.
After Milwaukee cut a 15-point third quarter deficit to 93-88, Antetokunmpo briefly had to leave the game. He had his shoe removed and trainers were treating him. But he said it wasn’t related to the hyperextended knee that cost him the last two games of the Eastern Conference Finals.
“Just a cramp,” Antetokounmpo said. “I didn’t think it was connected to my knee. Just a cramp. I had to drink more water.”
“I’m pretty certain it was a cramp. Not anything he felt with the injury or anything,” Mike Budenholzer said. “I think it was just a little bit of a cramping. Get some fluids in him. Just get him a little bit of a rest. It was what he was feeling at that point.”
Khris Middleton has been Milwaukee’s closer, but Mikal Bridges held him to 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting and a game-worst minus-15.
“I just think we just never let him get comfortable. We talked about it, we just wanted to give a lot of different looks to him, not let him see the same coverages over and over,” Jae Crowder said. “Obviously, he’s a hell of a player, he’s one of their go-to players. So, we wanted to make it as difficult as possible. I think Mikal Bridges did a great job on him all night.”
Phoenix hit 20-of-40 from 3, tied for the most in an NBA Finals game.
“With our team, we got shooters. Like real shooters,” Chris Paul said. “It’s nice when you kick it to the guy and you expect him to make it.”
Torrey Craig suffered a right knee contusion taking a charge from Giannis Antetokounmpo and did not return.