NBA finals 2021 Game 5: Milwaukee Bucks v Phoenix Suns – live! – The Guardian

Bucks 102-90 Suns, 11:19, 4^th quarter

Giannis starts the fourth by making his first shot, that’s not going to help things for Phoenix.

The Suns attempted two three pointers that quarter, they’re going to need to do a bit better this next quarter to have a shot to win.

Bucks 100-90 Suns, end of the 3^rd quarter

Ayton gets called on a foul, a questionable one, it puts Connaughton on the free throw line. He adds to his total by making both free throws. Suns have the final possession here, Booker has it… and it’s way short. It’s a ten-point deficit, but if anything we’ve learned in this game, it’s that things can change rapidly.

Bucks 98-88, Suns, 43.2, 3^rd quarter

Ayton with a jumper, the Suns looking to narrow the lead down heading into the fourth.

Bucks 98-88, Suns, 50.4, 3^rd quarter

Lopez gets a dunk right back but Booker, continuing to keep the Suns close, hits a layup.

Bucks 96-86, Suns, 1:49, 3^rd quarter

Holiday finally misses here but he blocks Booker on the other end, so it evens out. Cam Johnson, however, takes a Lopez miss and gets Phoenix a rare three-pointer.

Bucks 96-83 Suns, 2:36, 3^rd quarter

Jrue Holiday has 23 points in 27 minutes and is 10-for-13 in shooting. So, that’s a thing. Never mind, now he’s 11-for-14 and has 25 points.

Bucks 94-83 Suns, 3:09, 3^rd quarter

Giannis fires off a shot. Payne gets awarded two points after a Bucks goaltend, which helps narrow down the Bucks lead. It’s enough to get them to take a timeout to calm things down here.

Bucks 92-81 Suns, 3:32, 3^rd quarter

Chris Paul picks up a foul here, not great. The Suns play some solid defense here but Giannis finds a way to step back and score. On the other end, Phoenix hold on to the ball just a bit too long and get called for a turnover. This is not going great for them.

Bucks 90-81 Suns, 4:35, 3^rd quarter

Connaughton with yet another three-pointer. Ayton scores in response, but Giannis counters. Ayton scores again, they’re keeping pace but they need more stops pronto.

Bucks 85-77 Suns, 5:26, 3^rd quarter

Okay so, so far it’s not as been back-and-forth as I had expected. Paul hits a long jumper here, something Phoenix desperately needed.

Bucks 85-75 Suns, 5:43, 3^rd quarter

Never mind, that’s the biggest Bucks lead. Middleton finds Giannis for two and the Suns have to take a timeout.

Bucks 83-75 Suns, 5:59, 3^rd quarter

Bucks get back-to-back buckets. Middleton makes a layup and Holiday snatches the ball away from Booker and nails a jumper. That’s Milwaukee’s biggest lead so far.

Bucks 78-75 Suns, 7:02, 3^rd quarter

Holiday gets to the perimeter and his a long two. Meanwhile, Tucker picks up his four foul and he’s yelling. That puts Booker on the line and you’ll not be surprised to hear that he makes both.

Bucks 76-73 Suns, 7:51, 3^rd quarter

Middleton and Booker continue to trade blows here, three straight jumpers each. Just utterly ridiculous.

Bucks 72-69 Suns, 8:51, 3^rd quarter

Booker adds to his totals for Phoenix but Lopez hits a three-pointer. Those are a huge factor in today’s game.

And here comes the see-sawing. Bridges with a layup for the Suns and Middleton answer on the other side.

Bucks 67-63 Suns, 10:35, 3^rd quarter

Middleton with a three-pointer to push the Bucks ahead. I’m expecting a see-saw quarter here.

Bucks 64-63 Suns, 10:44, 3^rd quarter

We’re off! Booker with a jumper to cut this to a one-point game out of the shoot.

Jalen Rose with a “catch the Vapors” reference and a “rest in peace, Biz Mark.” Good for him.

This would be an extremely poor time for this particular Suns run to come to an end, I think.

Email from Oscar Gutierrez:

Can someone please tell Booker to play ball and stop whining to the officials after every play. It is totally embarrassing.

Well, I mean, it got him an extra foul in Game 4 so it’s working in his favor. (No, I don’t care that it didn’t affect the game, I am still annoyed at this!)

Okay maybe you all deserve to have a bit more analysis than this. Luckily somebody else has done the numbers for me about what just happened there in the second quarter:

Bucks 64-61 Suns, end of the first half

Booker misses on his end. Middleton finds Giannis for an alley-oop for Milwaukee. They have a foul to give, Tucker picks up his third in what feels like a puzzling decision on their part. In the end, Paul makes a layup… but doesn’t get a foul call. The Bucks somehow have a three point lead to go into the half.

Bucks 62-59 Suns, 52.0, 2^nd quarter

Giannis is back on the line and here comes the counting and the Money Man in the audience. This time, Giannis isn’t rattled: he hits both to extend the Bucks lead.

Bucks 60-59 Suns, 1:27, 2^nd quarter

Cam Payne gives the Phoenix fans some pleasure with a shot that very briefly ties the game but, because this is Game 5 we’re talking about, Holiday’s jumper immediately ties things up.

Ayton dunks for Phoenix and Holiday responds and then some with a three-pointer! Bucks back up by one!

Bucks 55-55 Suns, 2:35, 2^nd quarter

Some great ball movement leads to a wide-open Tucker who ties things up with a three.

Bucks 52-55 Suns, 3:26, 2^nd quarter

Giannis picks up his first foul, which could be something later on, but the Suns can’t score. Connaughton misses a three-pointer, it feels like for the first time this game, so we finally have a scoring drought here… until Booker drives his way to the baskets for a layup and Milwaukee calls a timeout. That’s 15 points for Booker, having another red-hot game it seems.

Bucks 52-53 Suns, 4:08, 2^nd quarter

Giannis finds Middleton for a floater. Payne tips in his own miss. Back-and-forth, back-and-forth.

Bucks 50-51 Suns, 5:07, 2^nd quarter

Booker gets fouled and he gets free throws and this is officially a back-and-forth game. I guess I jinxed the whole thing right before the start of this second quarter.

Bucks 50-49 Suns, 5:46, 2^nd quarter

Portis scores and draws a Crowder foul. He gets the free throw and then after a Paul miss, he gets a three-pointer on his end to give the Milwaukee Bucks an improbable lead.

Bucks 44-49 Suns, 6:37, 2^nd quarter

That sparks a Suns run to untie it with Crowder making a layup and yet another three-pointer, this one is via Cam Johnson.

Middleton makes a jumper that’s immediately answered by Chris Paul. This is going back-and-forth now.

Bucks 42-42 Suns, 7:48, 2^nd quarter

Middleton scores to make it a one-possession game, albeit briefly as Ayton knocks in a Johnson miss.

And just like that, Holiday hits a jumper and Connaughton the Slugger ties it with a three-pointer.

Bucks 35-40 Suns, 8:48, 2^nd quarter

Ayton can’t get his own rebound so it’s another chance for the Suns. Portis with a three-pointer and it’s a five-point game. Wowsers!

I love that the new “Suicide Squad” movie is called “The Suicide Squad” because it’s trying to memory-hole the very existence of the first “Suicide Squad” movie: “That awful mess is a figment of your imagination, this is the real start of the Suicide Squad franchise.”

Bucks 32-40 Suns, 9:31, 2^nd quarter

Never mind, there’s a Chris Paul three pointer.

And that it’s for Phoenix as the Bucks go back-to-back thanks to another Holiday shot and an emphatic, timeout-forcing Lopez dunk. The lead’s down to single digits.

As I said, very very early.

Bucks 28-37 Suns, 10:44, 2^nd quarter

And a Holiday three-pointer and we have an official counter-punch here for Milwaukee as Phoenix are finally starting to miss on their end.

Bucks 25-37 Suns, 11:05, 2^nd quarter

Holiday with a layup and that’s back-to-back Bucks buckets.

Bucks 23-37 Suns, 11:39, 2^nd quarter

Brook Lopez starts the scoring in the second, which is good news for the Bucks.

Email from Ronnie King King:

Who you think going to win the game tonight

Well I said the Suns about an hour ago and nothing that’s happened has made me second guess my opinion so far.

Bucks 21-37 Suns, end of the 1^st quarter

Holiday has a layup attempt and, because this is the Bucks’ first quarter, he misses. That will do it for the first quarter.

Bucks 21-37 Suns, 44.9, 1^st quarter

Booker immediately scores in response. Giannis can’t hit a three on his end. Torrey Craig hits one for Phoenix and man there’s just no stopping the bleeding here in the first for Milwaukee.