The road back to the NBA Finals has become bumpy for the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks.
Devin Booker strained his right hamstring Tuesday in Phoenix and Khris Middleton sprained his left knee a night later in Milwaukee, leaving both teams without one of their All-Stars.
That wasn’t all they lost. Both teams went on to fall in those Game 2s and find themselves tied as their series switch sites Friday night.
The Suns will be at New Orleans, while the Bucks make the short trip to Chicago.
Miami takes a 2-0 lead into Atlanta in the other game on the schedule Friday.
Milwaukee had to overcome the loss of Giannis Antetokounmpo to a knee injury last season during the Eastern Conference finals, winning the final two games against Atlanta in part because of how well Middleton played.
Now the Bucks will have to find a way without Middleton, who was undergoing testing Thursday to determine the damage to his medial collateral ligament.
“Obviously, it’s a challenge. We kind of know the deal now,” Antetokounmpo said. “We’ve got to go and get one on the road. It’s going to be hard. Nobody says it’s going to be easy. But we know what the deal is. Khris is down. But we have a great team, talented team, tough team. Hopefully we can go out here and compete to the highest of our ability.
“Do we thrive in adversity? We’ll see. We cannot predict the future but hopefully we can be ready to compete in Game 3.”
Middleton and teammate Jrue Holiday flew with Booker to Tokyo last summer for the Olympics, just after the Bucks erased a 2-0 deficit in the NBA Finals to deny Phoenix its first NBA championship.
The Suns returned this season and soared through the best regular season in franchise history, rolling to an NBA-best 64-18 record. But they got just one win to open the postseason before Booker was hurt after scoring 31 points in the first half of Game 2.
Then the Pelicans, who had to win two play-in games just to make the postseason, rallied for a 125-114 victory behind 37 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for Brandon Ingram.
The Suns played through Booker’s absence because of hamstring trouble earlier in the season and a stretch without Chris Paul after the All-Star break because of a hand injury, so they also have experience having to get by without a star.
“We’re going to need everybody throughout this deep playoff run that we hope that we have,” Paul said. “So it’s been a season like that for us. Next man up. Guys stay ready.”
Friday’s games:
HEAT AT HAWKS
Miami leads 2-0. Game 3, 7 p.m. EDT, ESPN
— NEED TO KNOW: Trae Young matched a career worst by shooting 1 for 12 in Game 1, then established a career high — of the wrong kind — by committing 10 turnovers in Game 2. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler has been at his best for Miami and is coming off a playoff career-best 45 points in Game 2.
— KEEP AN EYE ON: Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. Miami is up 2-0 in the series without Adebayo and Herro doing much yet in the scoring columns. If the Heat get them going, Atlanta is in even more trouble.
BUCKS AT BULLS
Series tied 1-1. Game 3, 8:30 p.m. EDT, ABC
— NEED TO KNOW: Chicago’s 114-110 victory in Game 2 was just its second win in the last 19 meetings with the Bucks. Milwaukee’s defense has to regain control of DeMar DeRozan, who scored 41 points, and Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine, who both had at least 20. All three shot terribly in Game 1.
— KEEP AN EYE ON: Bulls guard Alex Caruso. He missed nearly two months of the regular season after breaking his right wrist on a flagrant foul from Bucks guard Grayson Allen that resulted in an ejection and one-game suspension. In the first two games of this series, Caruso has revealed just what the Bulls were missing while he was away. Caruso’s defensive tenacity has bothered the Bucks, who have 36 turnovers in this series. Caruso had nine points and a season-high 10 assists in Game 2. The Bulls outscored the Bucks by 16 points in the 38 minutes when he was on the floor.
SUNS AT PELICANS
Series tied 1-1. Game 3, 9:30 p.m. EDT, ESPN
— NEED TO KNOW: Losing Booker might be a problem but losing home-court advantage shouldn’t for the Suns. They were an NBA-best 32-9 on the road — just four fewer wins than the Pelicans had total.
— KEEP AN EYE ON: The Suns’ transition defense. Phoenix coach Monty Williams said it was about as bad as it’s looked under him in Game 2, when the Suns had 16 fast-break points while shooting nearly 55% from the field
