Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from riveting Game 3 win vs. Atlanta Hawks

Jrue Holiday has a tough shooting night in Milwaukee Bucks’ Game 3 win over Atlanta Hawks

While Milwaukee’s leading duo had a phenomenal night, Jrue Holiday had his first blip of the series after coming out hot in Games 1 and 2.

Last night’s Game 3 saw Holiday struggle to find his shot whatsoever, totaling a mere six points on an abysmal 2-of-11 shooting, including 0-of-3 from deep. Whether it was right at the rim, in the mid-range, or behind the arc, Holiday simply could not buy a bucket last night, which proved troublesome until Middleton stepped in and went berserk to close the game out in the fourth quarter, of course.

With his shot doing anything but falling, Holiday tuned down the shooting and looked to impact the game elsewhere, most notably by dishing out 12 assists. He was facilitating the ball to near perfection with just one turnover across his 42 minutes played, and the Bucks desperately needed it with how poorly he was in conjuring offense for himself. Furthermore, he stepped up on the defensive side of things and tallied two blocks and two steals each.

Holiday was also primarily assigned to guard Atlanta’s Trae Young once again, who returned to his All-Star form with 35 points and four assists. All of those baskets certainly did not come directly as a result of Holiday’s defense, as the Bucks are still looking to perfect the art of slowing down the 22-year-old. Time will tell if they can get this defensive approach right, but they weathered the storm last night with a massive win.

Game 3 was a thrilling contest, which has set the stakes high for Tuesday’s dire Game 4 between the Bucks and Hawks. These Eastern Conference Finals have been must-see thus far, and be sure to watch Game 4 on TNT at 7:30 p.m. CST.