Jrue Holiday seized his chance to give the Milwaukee Bucks the lead in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Took it right out of Devin Booker's hands, actually.<\/p>\n
Holiday's steal and alley-oop pass to Giannis Antetokounmpo for a dunk sealed a wild Game 5 and gave the Bucks a 123-119 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night (Sunday AEST).<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo had 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Khris Middleton added 29 points, and Holiday had 27 points and 13 assists.<\/p>\n
The Bucks fought their way out of an early 16-point hole by flirting with the best-shooting night in NBA Finals history, but then won it by making a huge defensive play for the second straight game.<\/p>\n
They can win their first title since 1971 in Milwaukee on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Booker had 40 points, his second straight 40-point game. But with the Suns rallying and down one with 16 seconds left, he drove into the middle and Holiday wrestled the ball out of his hands.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo sprinted down the court to his right and Holiday fired a perfect lob pass that the Greek Freak slammed down while Chris Paul fouled him to make it 122-119. Antetokounmpo missed the free throw, but the Bucks grabbed the rebound and Middleton made one free throw for the final point of the night.<\/p>\n
Before the defensive stand, Milwaukee's offense was the story. The Bucks made 32 of 45 shots in the middle two quarters, outscoring the Suns 79-53 during that stretch.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee became the first road team to win in the series and with one more victory will complete its second 2-0 comeback in this postseason \u2014 along with the fifth in NBA Finals history.<\/p>\n
Paul had 21 points and 11 assists, and Deandre Ayton finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. But the Suns missed a chance to move within a victory of their first championship and will need a victory at Fiserv Forum to bring the series back to the desert for Game 7 on Thursday night (Friday AEST).<\/p>\n
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"