Right on the money
Joining Giannis Antetokounmpo as a rare bright spot for the Bucks on Tuesday night was Khris Middleton, who eventually picked up where he left off from his strong Game 1 performance.
Getting just over 37 minutes, the Texas A&M product ended the night with 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field (4-of-6 from deep), four rebounds, three turnovers, one assist and was a -18.
It took a while for Middleton to put his imprint on the game as his first shot for the night stunningly didn’t come until the 6:17 mark of the second quarter. Once he got going though, the 26-year-old gave the Bucks a much needed boost to try to keep pace with the Celtics through their sloppy first half performance.
That carried over into the second half for Middleton as he did all he could to give the Bucks a fighting chance before finishing with yet another effective shooting display.
Middleton’s night wasn’t without a little fireworks seeing that he got into a war of words with Celtics forward Marcus Morris early in the fourth quarter. When asked about the heated exchange after the game, here’s what Morris had to say courtesy of Jay King of The Athletic:
Marcus Morris said he has no hard feelings for Khris Middleton: “I’ve been competing with Khris since college when we used to beat their ass at Kansas.”
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 18, 2018
Overall, it was encouraging to see Middleton find the same level of individual success as he had during Game 1 despite the result, considering his checkered playoff history up until this year.