Milwaukee — Shortly after his team's 120-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said he was not going to use his postgame news conference to complain about the caretaker. Were were And then he did just that.
"I'm not going to publicly complain about the foul," Williams said. "Just not going to do that. But you can see - tonight we had 16 free throws. One guy had 17."
That one man was Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who entered his second straight 40-point game of the series thanks in large part to his 13-for-17 night off the foul line.
The Bucks went 20-for-26 as a team, compared to the Suns' 11-for-16 output from the line.
Given the history between the game's assigned crew chief, Scott Foster, and Sons point guard Chris Paul, Sunday's talks were already a topic of conversation.
Counting game 3, Paul has now lost 12 consecutive playoff games he has played with foster referees.
There's nothing new about an NBA coach trying to sow the seeds for a friendly whistle as a series. It's as much a part of the league as the signature sneakers and backdoor alley-oops.
But beyond the fouls that allowed Antetokounmpo to get into the rhythm, the disparity hurt Sun the most as Deandre Ayton was called out for many of them.
Ayton, who shot 16 7-for-9 in 20 minutes in the first half, finished with only 18 points in 24 minutes, with five fouls and going on the bench.
"We got to learn from him," Williams said of Ayton's night. "We have to beat the guys on the spot. He will rise from this, I promise you he will."
Paul expressed sympathy for the 22-year-old Kendra's condition.
"Sometimes you're going to get a good whistle, sometimes you're going to get a bad whistle," Paul said. "It's tough, man, Giannis is coming running after you at full speed, you know what I mean?"
While Williams pointed to the caretaker, many of his players focused on the self-inflicted wounds Phoenix inflicted.
"It goes back to those 50/50 balls we lost," said Jay Crowder, who had his best game of the series with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting. "I think on the road, we have to win that fight. It's not about making the shot. It's just about mano-a-mano, making sure your guy doesn't get it up and down with the ball." It's coming. Somehow, somehow, you've got to find a way. And I felt like once it got closer, those guys worked a little harder than us tonight."
In fact, the Bucks had 13 offensive rebounds off the Sons' six and put them 20-2 ahead in second-chance points.
Next was Devin Booker, who scored just 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting - his lowest scoring in the playoffs - after scoring a combined 58 points between games 1 and 2.
"I think I can get better [shot attempts]," he said. "We'll do that. The essence of the game is to win it, and I think there were other things throughout the game. You could say it's a make/miss game, but at the end of the day you have to miss the other team and It's easy to get opportunities for our team. We didn't do that tonight."
And Paul, who had 19 points and nine assists, went back to something he's been hammering home all postseason long: the importance of consolidating quarters.
Phoenix was dismissed 40-9 in the last five minutes of the second quarter and the third quarter combined in Game 3.
"It was huge for us," Paul said of Milwaukee's 24-6 lead in third place after the Suns cut their lead to four. "Even in the second quarter, the second quarter we didn't close that quarter well. We're all talking about the playoffs. So especially on the road, you have to manage the game . You have to manage those ends of the quarter."
With Antetokounmpo dominating and the Bucks awaiting home court again in Wednesday's Game 4, the series may look different at 2-1 vs 2-0, Phoenix confident in his ability to limit the two-time MVP and take back control. Been final.
"We have enough bodies to get that job done," Crowder said of the challenge of guarding Antetokounmpo. "We have to do it collectively and get better individually. But we have enough bodies to get it done. We didn't do it tonight."
Added Paul: "We had to try to build the wall somehow."