NBA Finals: How the Bucks won Game 4 on the margins, beyond Khris Middleton's heroics and Giannis' block

The Finals are tied, and Milwaukee continues to find ways to eke out difficult wins

It's easy to make Khris Middleton the story. Offensively, he was the hero of the Milwaukee Bucks' 109-103 victory on Wednesday, scoring 40 points in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Middleton scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of midrange jumpers on consecutive possessions to put the Bucks up by two points against the Phoenix Suns with less than 90 seconds left. They were the kind of shots you need to make in the clutch against elite competition.  From another angle, Milwaukee's defense could be the story. Phoenix scored only 21 points in the fourth quarter, and, right after Middleton's jumpers, Giannis Antetokounmpo made perhaps the most preposterous play of his extraordinary career, swatting a Deandre Ayton alley-oop dunk that would have tied the game. Indeed, Middleton made some crucial, high-pressure shots, and Antetokounmpo's inconceivable block symbolized all of the defensive effort and grit that got the Bucks to this point. In a way, though, these plays are misleading.