The one man show

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP):

When Devin Booker took his usual seat on the bench at the beginning of the second quarter, the Phoenix Suns lost their stranglehold on game five of the NBA Finals.

Booker had scored 11 points and the Suns built a 16-point lead on Saturday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Footprint Center was in a frenzy and Phoenix could not miss a shot.

Then things changed. Over the next five minutes and 46 seconds, the Bucks began their comeback.

By the time Booker returned with 6:14 left in the second, the Suns' lead had nearly disappeared. The Bucks had taken all the momentum and never let it go on the way to a 123-119 win to take a 3-2 series lead as the scene shifts back to Milwaukee for game six tomorrow night.

"We came out and did what we intended to do, get off to a great start, and we let it go," Booker said. "They stayed resilient and they kept playing through. So, tough loss for us."

Booker was impressive for the second straight game, scoring 40 points on 17 of 33 shooting after his 42-point performance in a game-four loss.

But the rest of the Suns were either inconsistent or non-existent.

Phoenix looked stagnant on offencw, relying on Booker to generate offence by himself. That was readily apparent on a crucial possession in the final minute when Booker drove to the basket, the Bucks' defence collapsed, and Milwaukee point guard Jrue Holiday ripped the ball away for a steal to seal the win.

"We've got to move it around," Suns coach Monty Williams said. "We know what Book can do with the ball, but the one thing we talked about was getting to the paint, finding guys on the back side. We feel like that's a formula. There were some times tonight where it just stuck a little bit."

Holiday outplayed Phoenix's Chris Paul for a third straight game. Deandre Ayton scored 20 points, but was not his usual rim-protecting self on defence. Jae Crowder was quiet after a few early three-pointers and a dunk. Mikal Bridges had a few good moments, but the Suns needed more.

Booker's teammates were able to step up during a fourth-quarter push, but it proved to be too late. If the Suns do not want to watch the Bucks celebrate in Milwaukee, they need to figure it out by the time the NBA Finals return to Wisconsin.