Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday have to be better
Between Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, in which Giannis Antetokpunmpo suffered what looked to be a horrific knee injury, and Game 2 of the NBA Finals, only nine days had passed. Antetokounmpo’s knee definitely is not 100%, yet he is having to do everything for this Bucks team.
He had 20 points and 17 rebounds in Game 1’s loss and then in Game 2 on Thursday night, Giannis had 42 points on 15-22 shooting and also had 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal. The Greek Freak was everywhere for Milwaukee in Game 2, but he seemed to be the only guy motivated to actually do anything.
With his performance, Antetokounmpo not only became the 32nd player in NBA Finals history to record 40+ points in a game, but his 20-point third quarter put him in elite company as well. He became the first player to score 20+ points in a quarter since Michael Jordan scored 22 points in the second quarter of Game 4 of the 1993 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns.
Giannis’ 20-point quarter also surpassed the likes of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James’ 19-point quarters as the most points in an NBA Finals quarter over the last 25 seasons.
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There really is not much more Giannis Antetokounmpo could have done to try and carry his team to the win, but Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday definitely could have done more to help their hurt teammate out. Not to take anything away from the Suns because they were terrific defensively on these guys, but Middleton and Holiday need to be better and realize they are playing for a championship.
Jrue Holiday did a great job at attacking the Suns’ defense and getting inside the paint, but time and time again, he was unable to convert on his shots. He shot just 7-21 from the floor in Game 2 after going 4-14 in Game 1. Holiday has now scored just 27 points through two games in this series and is shooting 11-35 (31.4%) from the floor.
Defensively, Jrue Holiday has been locked in and playing great on Chris Paul, but he really has not helped the Bucks much offensively. The same goes for Khris Middleton, who had 29 points in Game 1, but just 11 points in Game 2. He picked the wrong night to have a bad night because Giannis really needed his “right-hand man” to step up and score in this one.
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Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday shot a combined 12-37 (32.4%) from the floor in Game 2, which cannot happen again. These two guys are All-Star caliber talents and unless they contribute offensively in Game 3, this series is over.
Milwaukee has trailed 0-2 in a series earlier in the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets, but these are different circumstances. The Nets wound up facing some significant injuries in that series and now, they are in the NBA Finals, the biggest stage in the world when it comes to basketball!
In their franchise’s history, the Milwaukee Bucks are 1-15 in Best-of-7 series when trailing 0-2 and their lone win came this year against the Brooklyn Nets! Middleton and Holiday must be better and take a ton of the scoring load off of Giannis in Game 3 of this series because both their team and Antetokounmpo need it.
The 2x MVP is giving it his all out there on the court with a hurt knee and was visibly gassed during the fourth quarter, which is why he needs his teammates to step up. We should find out quickly what the Bucks are made of as they have a couple days of rest to regroup and prepare for the biggest game in their franchise’s history on Sunday. If the Bucks fail to win Game 3 of the 2021 NBA Finals, this series will be over and the Suns will either embarrass them in Game 4 and sweep the series, or they will win on their homecourt in Game 5.
