Milwaukee Bucks blitz Phoenix Suns with 82-point 1st half in runaway win without Giannis Antetokounmpo

MILWAUKEE — The Phoenix Suns didn’t have to deal with two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on Sunday afternoon.

Didn’t matter.

They couldn’t stop the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks in an embarrassing first half of their 140-129 defeat at Fiserv Forum.

"We were trying to fly around, but we were just getting our ass kicked," Suns coach Frank Vogel said. "Sometimes that happens."

The Suns (39-29) allowed a season-high 82 points in the first half and trailed by 22 at the break against a Milwaukee (44-24) team minus Antetokounmpo, who sat with a hamstring injury after going through a pregame workout.

"You got to understand that when teams are missing somebody that usually dominates the ball a lot, those guys are going to go out there and play free and that's what they did," Suns star guard Devin Booker said. "They spaced the floor out and made a lot of shots and we made an adjustment and was fighting an uphill battle the rest of the game."

As ugly as that first half was, Phoenix charged back to cut Milwaukee’s lead to six, 100-94, with 1:30 left in the third. The Bucks responded with a 9-0 run to end the quarter as Damian Lillard splashed a 33-footer at the buzzer to push their lead up to 15 points, 109-94.

"That gave them more confidence coming into the fourth quarter to shoot those shots, too," Suns superstar Kevin Durant said. "If we would've tied it or kept it under single digits, those shots probably wouldn't have went in for them in that second half, fourth quarter. It's a feel good game. When you're usually up on the scoreboard, you feel better."

The Bucks were 18-of-27 from 3 in the first half as Bobby Portis cooked the Suns for 25 points, hitting 5-of-5 from 3. Portis finished the game with a game-high 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting to go with 10 rebounds off the bench.

"I be in my own zone," Portis said. "Try to block out all the naysayers. They've been talking crazy about me all year long, you know. Trade him. All type of stuff. I get in my own zone now."

Lillard also scored 31, hitting 4-of-8 from 3, to go along with a game-high 16 assists.

"They changed their team with Giannis not being in there," Vogel said. "Dame is an elite attacker that requires you to really extend your defense. on him and the risk of that is exposing the 3-point line."

Two games after Boston delivered a 25-of-50 exhibition on 3 in Thursday’s 15-point home win over the Suns, the Bucks cooked Phoenix in shooting 24-of-41 from long range off dribble penetration and ball movement.

"I thought the ball just moved well," said Lillard, who didn't play in the first Suns-Bucks game due to injury. "They had some lazy switches. We were able to get into the paint and kind of get them in rotation and I think the ball just went where it was supposed to go on a lot of those plays and when that happens, you get quality shots. When you get quality shots and you're making shots, I think that's what our team is capable of."

The Bucks hit tough 3s, but they also got some clean looks as the Suns were slow on closeouts.

"We started off good, but once guys hit a few, you got to force them inside the line," Suns guard Grayson Allen said. "Close out with your hands down, all of us had at least one or two of them."

The Bucks did get Khris Middleton back as he had missed 16 games with a left ankle sprain suffered on Feb. 6 against the Suns in Phoenix. He added 22 points and seven assists for the Bucks, who lost the first matchup to the Suns.

"I try to be a coach on the floor at times, putting guys in certain spots or running certain things to get us in a different flow," Middleton said. "Try to take control of the game. I think that's something I bring to the table for this team."

It wasn’t a historic defensive collapse in a half by the Suns, but close to it.

Phoenix allowed a franchise-worst 90 points in the first half of a 142-116 loss on Nov. 16, 2017, against Houston at home. The Suns also yielded 89 in the first half of a 155-118 defeat on Jan. 2, 1987, against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Bradley Beal paced the Suns with 28 points, Allen went for 25 against his former team and Booker scored 23, but went 0-for-5 from 3.

Durant, the NBA's fourth-leading scorer at 28.2 points a game, scored only 11 on 4-of-10 shooting.

"Shots don’t matter," Durant said. "We got 120 something points. Grayson took my spot scoring. I had to do other s--t. We got ourselves back in the game. They hit tough shots to finish.”

This is after just a 13-point effort in Friday's win over Charlotte.

"Defensively, we lost this game," Durant said about Sunday's loss. "They made more 3s than us. They got hot in the first half. My shot attempts, my points. I know that’s a talking point, but we scored enough points in my opinion.”

The Suns have the second-toughest remaining NBA schedule. They only play two more teams with losing records in Atlanta and San Antonio.

Phoenix is 0-3 against those teams.

The Hawks beat the Suns last month in Atlanta and the Spurs took two against them in the span of three days at Footprint Center. Phoenix plays Atlanta in the second of a home back-to-back Thursday and takes on the Spurs in consecutive games starting Saturday to begin a five-game road trip.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Milwaukee Bucks blitz Phoenix Suns with 82-point 1st half in win