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Before the game, Brandon Knight downplayed the significance of this game to him. He played like it tonight. Knight scored just five points in the 1st half and finished with 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting as the Milwaukee Bucks swept the season series from the Phoenix Suns with a 105-94 victory.
Alex Len looked like he was the one out for revenge against Milwaukee early, posting a stat line of 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks in the 1st half. He finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season. Joining Len with big games were P.J. Tucker (20 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, three steals) and Tyson Chandler (13 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks). Devin Booker scored 18 points but also had seven turnovers.
The game was going in the Suns' favor early, leading 32-28 after the 1st quarter and 45-42 with 2:57 left in the 2nd. But then the Suns did what the Suns do, failing to close the quarter strong and allowing the Bucks to go on an 11-2 run to lead 53-47 at the half.
Phoenix displayed the efficiency of a backhoe in digging a double-digit deficit just 46 seconds into the 2nd half and trailed by as many as 14 points in the quarter. However, the deficit was down to five by the end of the 3rd. The Suns had the game tied at 80 with 10:40 remaining in the 4th quarter, but the Bucks built their lead back up to eight. The Suns could never get the lead below four from there.
With Mirza Teletovic sitting out with the same stomach bug that has run through about half the team recently, the Suns' bench was anemic, scoring just two points until John Jenkins had a last-second layup to end the 3rd quarter. The Suns' bench was outscored by the Bucks' bench 32-9 for the game. The lack of production from the bench was only part of Phoenix's problems, though, as they committed 24 turnovers and shot just 20.8 percent (5 of 24) from 3.
Milwaukee was led by Khris Middleton (26 points) and Jabari Parker (21 points). Former Suns Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee has nice stretches as well, scoring 10 and 4 points respectively.