The first 3-pointer came from basically nothing: a simple flair on the right wing, where Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton caught the ball in isolation, the jab stepped up a couple of times, waiting for a dummy screen to hit the ball. Got caught, then jab stepped up again.
There was enough room to pull, and Middleton let his patent set shot jumper fly, extending the Atlanta Hawks' lead to four, with 7:12 remaining in Game 3 of Sunday's Eastern Conference Finals.
A little more than a minute after Trae Young stepped off the Hawks bench and returned to the game, a grim reaper suffered a right ankle injury from a freak tweak after stepping on referee Sean Wright's foot late in the third quarter suppressed. After a demoralization in Milwaukee just two nights earlier, Young was in a groove, making good on his promise to get better as the Hawks bounced back.
The second 3 came about a minute after the first - and then outside of any set play. Again on the right wing, with Young retreating to seek help, Middleton casually drops him. Young answered it with a Rainmaking 3 to give the Hawks back the lead, but Middleton responded 13 seconds later with an 18-footer. Young remembered his reaction badly, hitting all the glasses.
Middleton, smelling blood, took another 3 - his third in less than two minutes and the fourth of the final quarter - to give Milwaukee the lead for good with 5:13 remaining.
"Once I realized I had hit two in a row, I told myself to keep trying to find a shot to know that there was a good chance," Middleton said.
It could be the silence of the night.
By the end of Game 3, Middleton trounced Atlanta for 38 points as the Bucks took a 2–1 series lead 113–102. And when the Hawks narrowed down to the final buzzer—his offense is low on options without Young's magic show—Middleton sums it up with simple, ice-cold bucket-getting.
Fourth quarter tally: Middleton 20, Hawks 17.
"What I saw today was incredible. It was unbelievable," said Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. "The team was taken to the end. He rolled the ball like twice, and after that, it was locked. He was like, 'Pass me the ball.' And we gave him the ball. There are moments when we know when to set the screen for him, we know when he needs the ball, and that was the moment.
"We were like, 'Get out of the way, give him the ball, take us home, Chris,' and that's what he did."
Playoff games are often won in a half-court grind, with contested midrange pull-ups and isolation turnaround jumps being the deciding offense. Ball movement, floor spacing, and 3-point shooting represent the systematic approach for most NBA teams these days; But when a playoff game hits the hard of the fourth quarter, when every right is a chore, bucket-getters like Middleton come to the surface.
In the fourth quarter on Sunday, Middleton went 6-for-11 on competition shots, tied for the most competitive make in the fourth quarter of this season, according to ESPN Stats and Information Research.
Not that the Bucks committed some kind of high-profile crime. It was only Middleton, in his lab, taking place in the fandom of the game, his lava-hot right arm the only playcall coach Mike Buddenholzer needed.
"He's just one hell of a player," Budenholzer said. "There are a lot of great players in this league, and we know what Chris can do for us and how we can win with him. That's what's most important."
The Bucks' best player is Antetokounmpo, and the two-time MVP was great in Game 3, scoring 33 points in 41 minutes with 11 rebounds. But that's the Bucks' formula: To divide and win among your All-Stars, there's no traditional Alpha-Bravo hierarchy deciding who needs shots and who needs decoys. It's a straightforward solution to what would otherwise be a fatal flaw for the Bucks, if not for the humility of their best player.
Middleton said, "I think our team is so selfless, if it goes to someone, that ball goes to them. Some sports it's me, some sports it's Giannis, some sports it's jrue [holiday]. "We all have a great sense of who this is going to, who has the best matchups and who can create the best looks."
Even at a post-game news conference, when a reporter talked about the fourth quarter and how it might be time for Antetokounmpo to take over – the kind of things MVP needs to do in the playoffs – Antetokounmpo turned her head forward. - shook back in disagreement between questions.
"No, I trust this man to death," Antetokounmpo said with Middleton next to him. "If he wants the ball, he gets it. Simple like that."
Variety in offense is the Bucks' luxury, and one Hawks struggles to replicate with Young Limited after suffering his ankle sprain. The Bucks have faced their struggles in times of crisis, sometimes pinning their hopes for Antetokounmpo post-ups or Middleton midrange jumpers; But those options are better than what the Hawks were left with without Young's explosive first move.
And if Young's ankle is troublesome, with Middleton's formal arrival in the series, Hawks may have trouble ahead.
"That's what we need from him," Antetokounmpo said of Middleton. "We need him to be aggressive, we need him to handle the game, we need to make good decisions to play him."
Milwaukee's post-season, simplified: When Middleton shoots 40% or better, the Bucks are 9-0. When he doesn't, they are 1-4.
The Bucks can win in a variety of ways, leaning on the defense of the swarm (see Game 2 of this series), a flurry of 3s or a ground-and-pound paint-scoring approach. However, their depth of options is a difference when all the pieces are aligned.
The Hawks' Game 4 adjustment is likely the ice pack that sits on Young's right ankle — and hope he can call something that has made him the darling of the Eastern playoffs. This was before the injury, with shimmys and struts on display and Young showing off his mental toughness in an impressive bounce-back game.
The Bucks, however, are hitting a stride, especially as Middleton kills him. They have an arsenal that Atlanta simply cannot match with a culture and attitude that enables them to seamlessly tap into it.
It's an unorthodox playoff template: Batman lets Robin drive in the clutch. But for the Bucks, this is what works.