The Milwaukee Bucks have not forgotten the thrill of winning the NBA title and the Phoenix Suns haven’t shed themselves of the agony of defeat.
The first rematch of the clubs that battled in last season’s NBA Finals is Thursday night when the Bucks visit Phoenix in a highly anticipated showdown.
Milwaukee defeated the Suns in six games last July, losing the first two games before prevailing in the next four to win the franchise’s first NBA title since 1971.
Phoenix enters this encounter with the best record in the NBA (44-10), with Milwaukee owning the league’s fifth-best mark at 35-21. The Bucks are in second place in the Eastern Conference.
“It is kind of like a rematch, right?” Bucks guard Jrue Holiday told TNT after Tuesday’s 131-116 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers. “We know what’s at stake. We know what happened last year. We know they’re going to be focused and we’re going to be focused as well.”
Suns star Devin Booker said he knows people are going to put “a little extra” spotlight on the game but he sees the matchup as a different entity.
“I mean, it’s a rematch of the Finals,” Booker said after a 114-109 road win over the Philadelphia 76ers. “They’re going to make something out of it, but it’s not as big as the Finals.”
Booker averaged 28.2 points in the Finals, including two outings of 40 or more points.
However, he was the only second-best player in the series as Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists. The Finals MVP topped 40 three times, including an epic 50-point performance in the clinching 105-98 victory.
Antetokounmpo vividly recalls the team’s last visit to Phoenix, an exciting 123-119 clash in Game 5 in which his dunk off Holiday’s lob with 13.5 seconds left moved Milwaukee ahead in the series.
“Great memories of Game 5,” Antetokounmpo told reporters in Los Angeles. “The way we felt before the game, the way we felt after the game. The way we felt during the game at the end. It was great memories.”
The Bucks have won four straight games and eight of 10 entering the contest.
Milwaukee has been dominant while winning the first three contests of a four-game game road trip. The Bucks are averaging 135 points with a winning margin of 22.7 points.
Antetokounmpo scored 44 points on 17-of-20 shooting during Tuesday’s demolition of the Lakers. Milwaukee led by 30 in the third quarter before cruising to the finish.
“He made it look easy, honestly,” Bucks teammate Khris Middleton said of Antetokounmpo. “That just shows the level of how he’s playing. He was knocking down his jump shot. He’s got guys going for his pump fake. Just the way he let the game come to him and stay patient, it was pretty fun to watch.”
While Milwaukee is faring well, Phoenix is in the midst of its own torrid stretch in which it has won three straight contests and 14 of its past 15.
The Suns have been the top NBA club most of the season. Phoenix put together a franchise-record 18-game winning streak early in the season and recently ran off 11 consecutive triumphs.
The Suns’ lone loss in the past four-plus weeks came Feb. 3 against the Atlanta Hawks (124-115) in the opener of a four-game trip. Phoenix responded with three straight wins, including a rally from a 14-point, third-quarter deficit on Tuesday while beating the 76ers.
“There’s no panic at all,” Suns coach Monty Williams said of falling into a big hole. “I thought in those moments you have to have a relentless attitude to be poised and execute and just stay the course. Doesn’t matter what the outcome is going to be. You just have to stay with it.”
Phoenix has won five of the past six regular-season meetings against the Bucks.
–Field Level Media
