ATLANTA -- When the Milwaukee Bucks needed a closer, Khris Middleton delivered.
After trailing by as many as 15 points in the first quarter Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks, the Bucks clawed all the way back behind a monster fourth-quarter performance from Middleton. Milwaukee defeated Atlanta 113-102 to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Afterward, Giannis Antetokounmpo was all smiles as he summed up Middleton's 20-point fourth quarter in one word: "greatness."
"What I saw today was unbelievable," Antetokounmpo said. "It was freaking unbelievable. He carried the team at the end. We were like, get the hell out the way, give him the ball. 'Take us home, Khris' -- and that's what he did."
The Bucks trailed for the majority of the game before Middleton, who finished with a career-high-tying 38 points, led a fourth-quarter surge. With the Bucks trailing by two, Middleton splashed in a 3-pointer at the elbow to give the Bucks a slight edge. He didn't balk when the Hawks punched back, building a seven-point advantage with just over seven minutes remaining. Middleton hammered more 3s from the elbow and corner, steadily building an eventual Milwaukee lead.
"I just told myself to keep trying to find a shot to get up, knowing that I was going to have a good chance of getting it in," Middleton said.
Middleton's shooting has been inconsistent at times in the 2021 postseason. He shot under 50% in eight out of 10 games since the start of the Bucks' Eastern Conference semifinal series against Brooklyn. Middleton has shot 41.6% from the field since the start of the series against the Nets, six percentage points lower than his regular-season average.
Since the beginning of Milwaukee's last series, Middleton has shot 33.8% from 3-point range. He shot over 41% in the regular season. But on Sunday, he was 6-of-12 on his 3-pointers, finding his rhythm.
He outscored the Hawks, who had 17, by himself in the fourth quarter.
"I'm proud of myself no matter what," Middleton said. "Second-round pick, worked my way into the rotation after I got traded [from Detroit to Milwaukee]. To me, that's a win. Every time I'm out there, I play with pride."
Middleton became the first Bucks player with 20 points in a fourth quarter of a playoff game in the past 25 postseasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Only one Bucks player has had 20 points in any other playoff quarter over the past 25 seasons: also Middleton.
Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points, but added that he was perfectly content not shouldering the primary scoring load in the fourth quarter.
"Doesn't matter who is the first guy," Antetokounmpo said. "We try to play basketball and we want to win games. I want to be a winner. I have the whole game to be the guy. I don't care about being the guy in the fourth quarter."
But even coming off an encouraging shooting night, the Bucks said they wouldn't get ahead of themselves, even though they are only two wins away from making the NBA Finals for the first time since 1974. After all, they were two wins away from a Finals berth in 2018 before falling to Toronto.
Antetokounmpo was adamant that he needs to keep all of his attention on Tuesday's Game 4.
"I don't care about the Finals," Antetokounmpo said. "I don't care about the end of the Finals. I don't care about the seventh game of the Finals. What I care about is Game 4. That's the message to the whole team."