Forty-seven years later, the Milwaukee Bucks will once again play an NBA Finals. Saturday night, on the floor of 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 great revenge after failing at the same stadium two years ago against the Toronto Raptors, future champions, when they had won the first two matches of the series at the time. Even stronger, Mike Budenholzer’s men achieved this performance in the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Affected during 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 pending.
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The Hawks have hoped to snatch Game 7 when they recorded the return of their star Trae Young (foot) who had missed two games. This unfortunately was not a winning choice as Young had to settle for 14 points at 4 of 17 on shooting, not making a three-point shot and losing five balls in total (versus 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.
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Khris Middleton wore the Bucks in Game 6. (Jason Getz / Usa today sports)
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Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday decisive
But the twenty-nine-year-old player has mostly changed the game almost on his own shortly after returning from the locker room. Kevin Huerter, no more successful than Young (2 out of 10 shooting including 1 in 6 with three points), first missed the shot that would have allowed Atlanta to take the lead in the score for the first. times of the match (47-45, 25th). And then the Middleton Show started off with thirteen straight points from one who is far more than an Antetokounmpo lieutenant at the Bucks. In three minutes, he scored two three-point baskets and another two points plus the free throw for the opponent’s foul to increase the score to 60-45. Atlanta, which conceded 44 points in this single quarter (22 from Middleton) has never recovered. The gap of nineteen points (91-72) at the start of the last period was too large to be fully closed.
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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, again him, and an omnipresent Jrue Holiday (27 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks for the leader) extinguished the last hopes of the Hawks.
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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 (then finalist in 1974). They will have minimal 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 league’s double MVP, they have a real team.
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