Bucks take care of business at home after routing Suns in Game 3

Giannis Antetokounmpo soars for a deuce (Mark J. Rebilas/ USA TODAY Sports)

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Milwaukee Bucks finally showed some signs of life after routing the Phoenix Suns, 120-100, and took Game 3 of the NBA Finals in front of their home fans.

Down 0-2 heading into Game 3, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Bucks came in aggressive and with a sense of urgency to help them control the tempo of the game.

Jrue Holiday resurrected himself from two poor shooting performances and was more assertive on offense as he drove to the basket aggressively and sank timely three-pointers.

Trailing by three after 12 minutes of action, Milwaukee locked in on the defensive end that spearheaded a massive 35-17 second quarter run.

A series of successful defensive stops led to Milwaukee breakaways that helped them blow the game wide open and establish a 60-45 lead heading into the second half.

Chris Paul and Cameron Johnson ignited the Suns’ offense and cut the 15-point lead to just six but Holiday’s back-to-back three-pointers put Milwaukee back in the driver’s seat and finished another strong third frame.

Just when the Suns thought they can answer everything with their three-point shooting, Antetokounmpo began to dominate once again and recorded another dominant performance with 41 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists.

Milwaukee’s stinging defense was a major factor in the victory as they consistently contested Phoenix’s three-pointers and read the passing lanes well which resulted to eight total steals.

Devin Booker had a rough shooting night and only had 10 points in 29 minutes of action while Paul contributed 19 points.

Meanwhile, five Bucks players were able to hit the double-digit scoring mark led by Antetokounmpo’s 41, Holiday – 21, Khris Middleton – 18, and Brook Lopez – 11.