The Milwaukee Bucks made it back-to-back wins following their West Coast trip with an impressive 140-129 win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
One surprising storyline around this game was the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was ruled out just before the game. Thankfully, it appeatrs it is not too serious. The other big news was the return of Khris Middleton for the first time since early February, and he went straight into the starting lineup.
Phoenix came into this game fully healthy with their star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal all starting. It was a high scoring affair, and Milwaukee managed to hold strong defensively against the Suns' stars, forcing the role players to step up and score.
Beal led the Suns with 28 points, and former Buck Grayson Allen had a great game, having scored 25 points. Booker was held to 23 points on 50 percent shooting on 22 shots, while Durant didn't seem to stamp his authority on the game, finishing with just 11 points.
The Milwaukee Bucks got a huge win over the Phoenix Suns
This win will give the Bucks huge amounts of confidence down the stretch with Giannis out and still playing decent defensive against elite scorers. Damian Lillard led the Bucks with 38 minutes and Jae Crowder was the only other player to play over 30. For Phoenix, however, Booker and Durant both played 40 minutes, and Beal and Allen played at least 37, so Milwaukee was able to force those guys to stay out on the court but hold onto the lead.
As a team, Milwaukee hit 54.3 percent of their shots and hit a brilliant 58 percent from deep. It was a great 43-24 second quarter in the Bucks' favor, which really gave them ascendancy and despite runs from the Suns in the second half, Milwaukee held strong. They also tied an NBA record 18 three pointers in a half.
With the round-up out of the way, let's take a look at the many studs and few duds (very loosely) from the Bucks' compelling win over the Phoenix Suns.