Forty-seven years later, the Milwaukee Bucks will once again play in the NBA Finals. Saturday night, on the floor of the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, the Bucks dominated the Hawks (118-107) winning Game 6 and this Eastern Conference final (4 wins to 2). A nice revenge after failing at the same stage two years ago against the Toronto Raptors, future champions, when they had won the first two games of the series at the time. Even stronger, Mike Budenholzer’s men achieved this performance in the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Touched in match 4, the Greek continues to treat his left knee which still appeared very swollen even if no serious injury was detected after the various examinations. His presence in the final is still up in the air.
The Hawks hoped to snatch Game 7 when they recorded the return of their star Trae Young (foot) who had missed two games. It was unfortunately not a winning choice as Young had to settle for 14 points on 4 of 17 shooting, not making any three-point shots and losing five balls in total (vs. 9 assists). The hero of this match was, once again in these play-offs, Khris Middleton, the All-Star of the Bucks. Very busy (to the point of losing seven balls), Middleton has of course compiled a very complete line of stats with 32 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Khris Middleton carried the Bucks in Game 6. (Jason Getz/USA Today Sports)
Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday decisive
But the twenty-nine-year-old player above all tipped the match almost single-handedly shortly after returning from the locker room. Kevin Huerter, no more successful than Young (2 out of 10 shooting including 1 out of 6 from three points), first narrowly missed the shot that would have allowed Atlanta to take the lead for the first times of the match (47-45, 25th). And then the Middleton Show began with thirteen consecutive points from the man who is much more than a lieutenant of Antetokounmpo in the Bucks. In three minutes, he notably scored two three-point baskets and another two-point plus the free throw from the opposing foul to raise the score to 60-45. Atlanta, which conceded 44 points in this quarter alone (22 from Middleton) never recovered. The gap of nineteen points (91-72) at the start of the last period was too big to be entirely filled.
The Hawks have tried everything. Under the impetus of Cam Reddish (21 points) in particular, they even came back to six points (107-101) with 3’41 to play. But Middleton, him again, and an ubiquitous Jrue Holiday (27 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks for the leader) extinguished the last hopes of the Hawks.
Milwaukee will now have a chance to add a second title to the history of the franchise after that obtained by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Roberston in 1971 (finalist then in 1974). They will have a minimum preparation time for this since match 1 of the final, against the Phoenix Suns (who have never been titled), is scheduled for Tuesday evening. Probably without Giannis Antetokounmpo but these Bucks have proven that behind the two-time league MVP they have a real team.