The Bucks need to let Giannis Antetokounmpo cook

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News

Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.

The culinary adage for cookhouse etiquette also be applies to the Milwaukee Bucks, who find themselves down 0-2 in the NBA Finals after losing to the Suns, 118-108, in Game 2 because they can’t seem to identify their head chef.

Let’s identify it for them.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a two-time MVP and one of the league’s most dominant players on both ends of the floor. Hyperextended knee or not, most — if not all — roads must go through him if the Bucks hope to turn their fortunes.

The Bucks got the memo too late in Game 2. It wasn’t until Antetokounmpo asserted himself in the third quarter that Milwaukee clawed back from a 15-point deficit. His valiant third quarter featured 20 points, a flurry of offensive rebounds, and most importantly a number of rack attacks in the same dominant fashion that earned him his league honors.

Had the Bucks let Antetokounmpo cook early on instead of running the offense through Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, they would have fared better than a double-digit loss on the road.

Some on the Internet or on television will tell you the Bucks are better without Antetokounmpo and that they should run their offense through Middleton and Holiday. Middleton is an elite scorer but he is a sous chef at best, and Holiday is a legitimate threat on both ends of the floor, but he is a prep cook. He is no head chef.

The proof was in the pudding in Game 2. Holiday shot 7-of-21 and Middleton shot 5-of-16. Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, finished with 42 points on 15-of-22 shooting. If only he’d kicked the other cooks out of the kitchen sooner.

Antetokounmpo is Milwaukee’s head chef, a player capable of shouldering the load. He was a dominant presence on the offensive glass and finished with 12 total rebounds. He also recorded three blocks and four assists.

But his bread and butter remains putting his head down and barrelling through whoever stands between him and the basket. It’s how he dominated the Nets and how he dominated the Hawks before hyperextending his knee.

Antetokounmpo’s brash style of play — which some call unskilled — is why the Bucks are in the NBA Finals at all. Now is not the time to go away from the player you rode here. It’s time to double down and push your chips to the middle of the table.

The Bucks have already pushed their chips all in on Antetokounmpo by giving him a five-year supermax deal worth over a quarter-million dollars. He’s playing with an injury, but not nearly as injured as James Harden when he returned early from a hamstring strain with Brooklyn’s playoff lives on the line in the second round. Not nearly as limited as Trae Young, who stepped on a referee’s foot in Game 3, missed Games 4 and 5 then returned for Game 6 a shell of himself and still played more than 35 minutes.

On virtually one-and-a-half legs, Harden played 139 minutes in the final three games of his season, including all 53 minutes of Game 7 plus overtime.

Yet in Game 1 against the Suns, Antetokounmpo played just 35 minutes. In Game 2, he played 40 minutes, but time on the floor was less of a concern.

The Bucks are not going to beat the Suns in a seven-game series because of Mike Budenholzer’s coaching chops. Phoenix’s Monty Williams, too, was a Coach of the Year candidate many felt was snubbed when the award went to the Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau.

The Bucks aren’t going to beat the Suns because of their depth, either. The Suns are a deep team, too, and they have a stronger back court than the Bucks can match.

The Bucks can possibly beat the Suns, however, because they have an opportunity to have the best player on the floor at all times. As much of a threat as both Booker and Paul are, the Greek Freak is a two-time league MVP who cannot be contained by an individual defender.

The Suns are not the Hawks, and they are not the shorthanded Nets, who were also without Kyrie Irving for the final three games of their playoff series. They are a near perfect team, selfless on offense and connected on defense, well-coached on the sidelines and on the floor with Paul running the show.

Antetokounmpo once declared the Bucks didn’t want to play with their food when they swept the Heat out of the first round. His Bucks look more like food on the biggest stage, and the head chef — not an impostor — is the only person who can save this dish.

“We understand it’s a really good team over there,” said Suns guard Devin Booker, who finished with a team-high 31 points. “We know it gets rowdy in Milwaukee, but we’re ready for it.”

Games 3 and 4 will be in Milwaukee.

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