The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns 120-100 in Game 3 of the 2021 NBA Finals, cutting the Suns’ lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. “The Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded 41 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists for the Bucks who played their first NBA Finals home game since their last Finals appearance 47 years ago. 11-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul led the Suns with 19 points and 9 assists. Game 4 will be in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.
Box Score (https://on.nba.com/3hyNeHT)
Please find transcripts from the postgame media availability attached and some of the highlights below:
Mike Budenholzer (Bucks Head Coach) on Giannis: “He's just doing whatever it takes to help his team, to help us. He's in an aggressive mindset. He always plays that way. But I thought he played with the pass well. He made some great reads, found guys, played against the zone. He just did a little bit of everything. Offensive boards, putbacks. We need a lot from him and that's what he does.”
Monty Williams (Suns Head Coach): “There's a lot of ways you can spin it, but they played with a great deal of aggression for longer stretches than we did. We knew it was coming. We did not respond to it well tonight, especially in the second and third quarters. The turnovers certainly hurt us, points in the paint, everything we have been talking about the whole series. So it was a tough lesson for us to learn. You know what was coming, but just didn't do enough consistently to withstand their attacking the paint, whether it was penetration, offensive rebounding. We gave them so many possessions, so we lost a shot and then they scored off of it. It was a double whammy.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks): “Yeah, we got better from Game 1 to Game 2. And now we got better from Game 2 to Game 3. We've got to keep building. Keep trusting one another. Keep trusting winning habits. Keep making winning plays. Keep competing hard and keep doing it together. But we got better.”
Devin Booker (Suns): “There's nights like that. The most important part to me is winning the game and we didn't do that, so I'm more frustrated about that. But we have a few days off here. We're going to get back right and going to go over film and be ready Wednesday.”
For full media availability please click on the links below:
- Bucks Postgame (https://bit.ly/2UIxHvT)
- Suns Postgame (https://bit.ly/36v8Cr3)
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of National Basketball Association (NBA).
