For Khris Middleton, the first half of the biggest game of his life was a terror. Careless and indecisive, he fumbled his way through the first 24 minutes of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals with six turnovers against only two field goals. The Milwaukee Bucks' best shot-maker wasn't hitting shots on a night he was desperately needed, as Giannis Antetokounmpo remained on the sideline nursing an injury.
Jrue Holiday fared only slightly better in the first half. Acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans for a trove of draft picks and guards Eric Bledsoe and George Hill, Holiday was to be an upgrade on Bledsoe -- a veteran point guard with the poise to guide a contender through the minefield of the NBA postseason. But on Saturday, Holiday racked up five turnovers of his own before halftime, and he continued his postseason struggles from the field, including a 1-for-5 clip from beyond the arc.
Whatever plagued Milwaukee's two healthy stars in the first half quickly receded in the third quarter:
A self-creator with the potential to explode if he finds his rhythm, Middleton instantly ignited a Bucks run. He scored 16 points in less than four minutes, culminating in a 3-pointer generated off a high screen from P.J. Tucker that drew the Atlanta Hawks' Trae Young on a switch. Almost single-handedly, Middleton stretched a four-point halftime lead to 16 points. He scored 23 points in the third quarter, the third most in any playoff quarter over the past 25 years, and finished with a game-high 32.
Holiday also discovered his stroke from the outside in the third quarter and intensified his aggressiveness off the bounce. His penetration opened up the floor for Middleton and the rest of the Bucks' shooters. Holiday's driving layups in the closing minutes stemmed a furious late run by the Hawks. In the thick of a tense, closeout game, Middleton and Holiday projected the quiet and confident leadership each has cultivated over time.
"Man, me and Khris were turning that thing over, weren't we?" Holiday said. "But at the end of the day, Khris carried us. Khris carried us there for a lot of it. Just leaving his heart out there; if we're gonna go down, we're gonna go down on his shoulders. I'm riding with him -- riding right into the Finals."
Down their most dynamic player, the Bucks ultimately pulled out a 118-107 win over a resilient, young Hawks squad to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1974. A 47-year drought that saw the departure of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his prime, a doggedly consistent team in the 1980s led by Sidney Moncrief that could never quite reach the promised land, a trio of Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell that thrilled but never truly contended and then years of mediocrity is now over. Now, the Bucks have an opportunity to etch their name in history.
"It feels awesome," Holiday said. "I'm still kind of on this high, but I'm going to the Finals. It's just cool to think as a little kid, this is like what you watch the playoffs for. This is all the moments that I felt as a little kid watching TV; I lived them and went through them. And now, I get to go to the Finals and see what this is about. I'm ecstatic."
Adversity amplifies winning, and this Bucks team has endured plenty of it. Moments away from taking a 3-0 lead over the Toronto Raptors in the 2018 conference finals, the Bucks dropped four consecutive games, ending a historic, 60-win season in disappointment. The playoffs of 2020 were equally dejecting, as a squad particularly affected by both the isolation of the Florida bubble and the events raging outside it was dispatched by the Miami Heat in five games. This postseason, the Bucks have alternated between transcendence and stagnation. Then there was the nasty injury to Antetokounmpo.
In response, the Bucks turned in two of their more complete efforts of the postseason. They not only booked a passage to the Finals, they also performed an exorcism.
"It's been a long journey, but it's been a great journey," Middleton said. "It's been worth it. We put ourselves in a position to win the NBA Finals, after winning 15 games in my first year here, some years not making the playoffs. The last two years, we had a chance, but we didn't do enough. And now, we're here."
Conference titles offer sweet but brief celebrations. In less than 72 hours, the Bucks will find themselves on the floor of Phoenix Suns Arena for Game 1 of the Finals against a Suns squad brimming with confidence.
Milwaukee and Phoenix played two thrillers in the regular season. The first was a Suns 125-124 decision in which Antetokounmpo missed what would have been the game-winning jumper at the top of the key. The second was a bizarre overtime victory by Phoenix, after Tucker was whistled for a foul on a Devin Booker jumper at the buzzer of a tie game.
The Finals matchup is difficult to handicap without the knowledge of Antetokounmpo's status and condition. If he is healthy, the Suns will need to devise a scheme to cut off his penetration or at least contain it better than they did in those previous two meetings, during which Antetokounmpo eviscerated them for 80 combined points.
In both contests, Antetokounmpo attacked Deandre Ayton every which way -- primarily in isolation and, of course, in transition. Against Jae Crowder, Antetokounmpo used screens and handoffs from his perimeter teammates. The Suns chose to guard him one-on-one, rarely sending a second defender, and were -- as Antetokounmpo's totals might suggest -- ineffective helpers. The troubles against Milwaukee aside, the Suns have a far stingier and more disciplined defense than they demonstrated in those two matchups.
Should Antetokounmpo be unavailable or severely limited, the Bucks will rely on an assortment of other offensive strategies. Expect a steady diet of Middleton isolations -- two hard dribbles against a perceived mismatch, elevate, shot. While Antetokounmpo has been sidelined, Middleton and Bobby Portis have established a smooth rhythm off the pick-and-roll, and Middleton also is a key cog in many of the Bucks' perimeter actions.
Meanwhile, Holiday has performed especially well in the pick-and-roll this postseason and finds some of his best looks off the dribble. He'll undoubtedly have the ball in his hands considerably more than he does alongside a healthy Antetokounmpo. Then there's Brook Lopez, whose exploits down low have served as a nice option for stretches. While the Bucks will never be a team inclined to focus, they'll happily capitalize on easy opportunities when presented with them.
Crafting their pick-and-roll defense might be the Bucks' most interesting tactical challenge for the Finals. With its conservative defense that prefers to challenge perimeter actions 2-on-2 and keep a body between the driver and the basket, Milwaukee will be pressured by Chris Paul, one of the savviest practitioners in league history. In their scheme, the Bucks have traditionally ceded midrange shots, but they'll be facing one of the game's most proficient midrange shooters in Paul.
And there is Booker, whose command and shot-making ability in the half court can't be given more than a modicum of space. The Bucks have shown an adaptability not previously seen in 2019 and 2020, and that willingness to adjust will come in handy against a Phoenix backcourt that can exploit shaky defenses but good ones too.
It's hard not to see Antetokounmpo's health as the margin in the upcoming Finals, because MVPs have an uncanny way of influencing big games. But whether Antetokounmpo is at 100 percent, considerably less than that or not on the court at all, the Bucks have developed an alternate persona in his absence, even as he remains vital to their core identity.
Whoever takes the floor in Phoenix will carry the weight of a franchise eager to cash in three seasons' -- and 50 years' -- worth of expectations.