The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns 109-103 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday, tying the series 2-2.

Khris Middleton was one of the best performing players in G4 as he put down 40 points to help the Bucks achieve their second straight win at home. He scored 10 points in the third quarter to make sure his team did not fall apart in front of a blood-thirsty Devin Booker, who went 7-7 in field goals to score 18 points in the quarter.

Middleton's game does not have much to do with the defense he faces. His touch is what that decides his performance. It took Middleton two games to find better form in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Brooklyn Nets. It took him three to do the same in the Finals.

"Khris has no fear, and he never has. Being one of the guys who has guarded him in my career, knowing what he's done, hitting big shots, making big plays, he's never been afraid of the moment. So, putting him in this situation is kind of perfect," said Jrue Holiday after the game.

Holiday himself was doing excellent work too, just not offensively where he was 4-20 in FGs and 0-5 from beyond. Holiday's true biggest contribution to the Bucks was that he shut Chris Paul down. The 36-year-old "PointGod" committed 15 turnovers in the past three games since Holiday came to defend him. Holiday not only removed the Suns' best orchestrator off the court, but also paralyzed half of the Suns' offense by taking care of Paul.

But the best moment of G4 still happened with Giannis Antetokounmpo when he blocked an alley-oop attempt by Deandre Ayton. The Bucks were leading by two only (101-99) by then at 1:16, if Ayton had made that dunk, this game could have ended differently.

"I thought I was going to get dunked on, to be honest with you. I felt [Ayton] rolling to the rim behind me, so I knew the only chance to get a stop was to just jump toward the rim and try to cover that angle for him to score," said Antetokounmpo after the game.

The "Greek Freak" had 26 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in Wednesday's game – still impressive but not as astonishing as his back-to-back 40+points in G2 and G3. However, Antetokounmpo got three steals and two assists in G3 and most of them happened in the last quarter when the Bucks strangled the Suns to death with smothering defense.

Antetokounmpo changed his offensive game as well. Most of the possessions of him running the ball took place in fast break. He did more cuts and worked harder in offensive rebounding in half-court offense, giving the ball to Middleton and Holiday, who have more reliable shooting to run the game.

One interesting fact about Antetokounmpo in Wednesday's game was that he returned to the locker room less than four minutes into the game. When asked about this, the two-time NBA MVP revealed that he went back to urinate. "How do you guys say politely? I wanted to take a tinkle. A tinkle. I wanted to take a tinkle and came back. That's polite, right," said Antetokounmpo.

The series went back to the starting line after four games, only the Bucks being on the trend.

By contrast, the Suns wasted a chance to end the series at home in five games as well as the dominant 42 points by Booker. The 24-year-old bounced back from the disappointing 3-14 FG shooting performance in G3. Having made no 3-pointer at all (0-3), Booker was 17-28 in FGs and went 7-7 in Q3 to score 18 points. The Bucks simply had solution for him.

The imperfect part of Booker's game was his foul trouble. He managed to go through it in Q3 but had to sit on the bench for five minutes after committing his fifth personal foul at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Suns were torn apart in exactly those five minutes in a vicious circle: They missed shot, failed to grab rebound and had to watch the Bucks score in transition.

The Suns trailed in fast break points 15-0, committed more turnovers (17-5) and were beaten in offensive rebounds (17-5).

Part of that was unavoidable due to the size disadvantage of the team. Meanwhile, the Bucks found the correct way of turning the game to their merit. Offensively, they stopped at nothing to drive fast break and kept charging the rim. Defensively, there was always a big man – Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis – remaining under the rim to cut Deandre Ayton away from easy points.

Ayton, who continued to bear surprises in his first NBA postseason journey, only had six points in Wednesday's game. He was still there for the team defensively with 16 rebounds and three blocks, but the 22-year-old was already lost on offense.

The best response to the Bucks' defensive tactics is explosive scoring performance via isolation. Booker did that in G4, but Paul didn't. Having shot 5-13 on the field and 0-2 from downtown, Paul only got 10 points, four rebounds, seven assists but five turnovers in Wednesday's game. When he lost the ball to Holiday at 0:34 in Q4, the game was doomed for him and the Suns.

"It was me; I had five of them. It was bad decision making," said Paul after the game.

"He's fine. Great players have games like that. We expect him to bounce back. But it wasn't just Chris. As a team tonight, we have to take better care of the ball," said Suns head coach Monty Williams after the game.

They have every reason to believe in the guy who went 16-24 in FGs and 7-8 in triples to drop 41 points and eight assists to end the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Clippers in G6. But Paul must respond to the team's trust soon because Game 5 at Phoenix Suns Arena on Saturday may decide where the Finals will go.