the Milwaukee Bucks began to climb back into the best-of-seven affair by giving the Suns a taste of their own medicine in Game 3.

Fueled by a pair of scorching runs to end the second and third quarters — 16-3 over the final 4:52 of the second, and 24-6 over the final 5:03 of the third — the Bucks cruised to a 120-100 victory at home, cutting their series deficit to 2-1 ahead of Game 4 on Wednesday night.

“We just had to play better defense, that’s all,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was utterly dominant for a second straight game, finishing with 41 points — including a personal 7-0 second-quarter run that put Milwaukee ahead for good — to go with 13 rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes. “Play better defense and rebound the ball better and open and run. Create driving lanes.