The Phoenix Suns looked unbeatable while building a 16 point lead in the first quarter of game five of the NBA Finals versus the Milwaukee Bucks, but the well-coached and highly focused Bucks kept their poise, outscored the Suns 43-24 in the second quarter, and achieved a 123-119 road victory to move within one win of capturing the 2021 NBA title. The game five winner of an NBA Finals series that is tied 2-2 wins the series 72% of the time, so even though I tend to avoid referring to "legacy games" it is possible that this was the most important game in the careers of several future Hall of Famers.
Giannis Antekounmpo scored a team-high 32 points while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds, and dishing for six assists. He shot 14-23 from the field, the 13th straight playoff game in which he has shot at least .500 from the field. Antetokounmpo is the most dominant and efficient playoff scorer in the paint since prime Shaquille O'Neal, and he is demonstrating that paint scoring/paint dominance still matter--regardless of what the "stat gurus" might say. The Suns shot .552 from the field (including .684 from three point range) and .909 from the free throw line, but they could not maintain a double digit lead at home against a bigger and more physical team. Khris Middleton added 29 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while shooting 12-23 from the field. It could be argued that the star of the game was Jrue Holiday, who not only scored 27 points on 12-20 field goal shooting but he also passed for a game-high 13 assists to become just the sixth player in NBA Finals history to score at least 25 points while also assisting on at least 30 points. Holiday played outstanding defense, punctuated by a late steal from Devin Booker that sealed the victory.
Booker scored a game-high 40 points on 17-33 field goal shooting. He is the first player in NBA Finals history to score 40 points in consecutive games but lose both games. He posted a team-best +12 plus/minus number while Chris Paul--who media members anointed the best player on the team and a candidate for regular season MVP honors--had a -6 plus/minus number. Supposedly Paul is leading the Suns, but what is actually happening is Booker is the team's best player and he needs more help from Paul, who finished with 21 points on 9-15 field goal shooting plus 11 assists. Paul's individual numbers were not bad, but he was no better than the fifth best player on the court in arguably the most important game of his career. Deandre Ayton contributed 20 points on 7-12 field goal shooting plus a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Suns made 11 straight field goals in the first quarter, tying the longest such streak in an NBA Finals game in the past 20 years. The Bucks were not impressed or rattled, and they turned a 37-21 first quarter deficit into a 64-61 halftime lead. The Bucks' 43 second quarter points is tied for the second most points in a quarter of an NBA Finals game in the past 35 years. The Bucks attack the paint on offense and focus on defending the paint on defense. They also utilize the midrange game to good effect, as both Middleton and Holiday are lethal in that area of the court. "Stat gurus" may disagree with the Bucks' approach, but there is no denying that what the Bucks are doing is working.
The Bucks led 117-107 after Middleton completed a three point play with 3:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Suns answered with a 12-3 run to pull within 120-119 with 57 seconds left in the game. With the game and likely the series up for grabs, Holiday made the play of the game by not only stripping Booker, but then running point on the fast break and throwing a lob pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo that resulted in a dunk plus a Chris Paul foul. Antetokounmpo missed the free throw but he tipped the offensive rebound to Middleton, who split a pair of free throws to push Milwaukee's lead to 123-119.
Much is made of Antetokounmpo's poor free throw shooting, but his Bucks just won a very important road playoff game despite his 4-11 free throw shooting. Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to 11 titles despite being an awful free throw shooter, Wilt Chamberlain was the best player on two of the most dominant single season championship teams ever despite his bad free throw shooting, and Shaquille O'Neal dominated the early 2000s with four championships in seven seasons despite his well-documented free throw shooting issues. It is obviously preferable that a player shoot at least .700 from the free throw line, but the notion that bad free throw shooting by a dominant player can cost his team a championship seems a bit far-fetched. The most important thing to note down the stretch in game five is not how many free throws Antetokounmpo missed but rather (1) the impact that he had on both ends of the court and (2) his eagerness to attack the hoop even though he knew that he would be fouled hard and forced to make free throws. Antetokounmpo is not going to win a free throw shooting contest versus Paul or James Harden or other players who are adored by "stat gurus," but anyone who understands basketball would choose Antetokounmpo over Paul or Harden overall as well as down the stretch of a key NBA Finals game. Harden and Paul together in Houston were not able to win an NBA title, Harden has also now failed to win a title alongside Kevin Durant on two different teams, and Paul has hopped from team to team chasing a championship that Antetokounmpo seems likely to win without jumping around the league to team up with other stars.
It is amazing that even after such a devastating home loss there is still talk about what a great leader Chris Paul is, based on cliches that he uttered during the post-game press conference. You know who has been the best leader in this series by far? Giannis Antetokounmpo. He came back from what looked like a season-ending knee injury to establish himself as clearly the best player in this series through five games, and he has led his team to three straight victories, including a pivotal game five road win. That is leadership--actually accomplishing something, as opposed to talking about accomplishing something.
Media members keep alluding to some mysterious Chris Paul injury, much like excuses are often made for LeBron James' many playoff failure (to James' credit, he--unlike Paul--has led his teams to four NBA titles)--but it is unlikely that Paul is dealing with an injury as severe as Antetokounmpo's knee injury. Antetokounmpo's injury has become a non-story now because (1) he does not talk about it or allude to it and (2) he has been the dominant player in the series. If Paul is truly injured, that is nothing new--a major reason that he has never won an NBA title is that he wears down and/or gets injured if his teams advance past the first round.
Phoenix could come back to win this series, so it is at least one game too soon to make broad, definitive conclusions, but it seems fair to say--barring an unlikely turn of events--what we have seen thus far in this series demonstrates that (1) Devin Booker, not Chris Paul, is clearly Phoenix' best player, (2) Paul may not be good enough to be the second best player on a championship team, and (3) two-time regular season MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo may actually be underrated as a player and as a leader.