Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from grim Game 2 loss to Phoenix Suns

The Milwaukee Bucks fall short in Game 2 despite a herculean effort from Giannis Antetokounmpo

A little over a week ago there were concerns that Giannis Antetokounmpo might miss the entirety of next season after a scary fall in Game 4 of the Conference Finals.

However, miraculously avoiding any significant damage, this pure freak of nature has played in both games of the NBA Finals thus far, and he left it all on the line in Game 2. Antetokounmpo would deliver a phenomenal performance by scoring 42 points overall, shooting 15-of-22 from the floor and 11-of-18 from the charity stripe. He was in attack mode all night, getting good looks close to the basket, making several mid-range jumpers, and taking a few too many ill-advised triples, although he made one.

This scoring barrage was propelled by a dominant third quarter for the Greek Freek where he clocked in 20 points, impressively the single most by a player in Finals during the last 25 seasons. Understanding that he was the team’s only source of consistent offense for much of the game, he took it upon himself to try and will his team back into the game. This one-man wrecking crew got mighty close on numerous occasions as he kept chipping away at Phoenix’s lead.

Anteotkounmpo gave it everything he had, noticeably hobbling on several occasions as he battled through any pain that still might be stemming from that knee. There was a brief instance where he abruptly checked out the game and many feared the worst, but it was soon reported that it was just a cramp, and he would return. That cramp came with horrible timing as the Bucks had cut the deficit to five and appeared to have the momentum swinging in their favor, but the rest of the team could not hold their own without Antetokounmpo and the Suns took control once more.

Antetokounmpo’s historically great performance will die in vain as the supporting cast failed to back him up, and the Bucks would lose the contest. Still, coming off that nasty knee injury, hats off to Giannis for stepping up to the plate.

Now trailing 0-2 in this best of seven, the Bucks will have to play nearly flawless basketball the rest of the way to claw their way back into this series. Be sure to catch Game 3 back in Milwaukee at 7:00 p.m. CST Sunday night on ABC.