Paul and Booker Dominate Bucks, Suns Take Game 1! 7.6.21
It’s a Tuesday night of NBA basketball and we have Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Suns and Bucks.
(3) Milwaukee Bucks vs (2) Phoenix Suns
Milwaukee Bucks (0-1)
Yeah, I kind of expected this. The Bucks aren’t good in Game 1’s because they’re adjustments are bad, which is not very shocking. They kept switching the Suns pick and rolls and Devin Booker and Chris Paul tore them apart. The Bucks couldn’t slow down the Suns pace as the Suns were out and running for the whole game. Giannis played surprisingly well after that knee injury, but the offense wasn’t great and the Bucks looked a step slow most of the time.
The Bucks need to change their lineup, especially defensively. They can’t switch or play drop coverage, both didn’t work. Perhaps you go super big and switch Tucker for Portis and play zone, using that extreme length to both the Suns. The mobility of a Portis/Lopez/Giannis lineup is interesting, but I wonder if they’ll think about it. Another thing you could do is put Giannis at center and maybe take out PJ Tucker for somebody, maybe like Pat Connaughton.
PJ Tucker hasn’t been the same since the Nets series. He did a great job defending KD but he isn’t an offensive threat and most teams feel ok with giving him shots. He got switched onto Ayton a few times and Ayton scored on him with relative ease. I don’t know if he can stay with Booker/Paul on the perimeter and when he’s switched onto a bigger guy like Ayton, it might just be time for a change.
The Bucks don’t have a lot of better options, but I don’t think this lineup is going to work. Giannis and Middleton were good, and so was Lopez offensively as he got some easy points running in transition. But Jrue Holiday struggled again as he looks like a completely different player with Giannis on the floor. Maybe it’s with the way the Bucks use him or it’s his mentality, he’s not the same. 4/14 shooting and only 10 points.
This is the guy you traded 5 first round picks for? He has to either be more involved scoring wise or you have to tell him to be aggressive. With how the Bucks defense was in this game, they need all the scoring help the can get and one of their Big 3 members can’t have an off night.
To sum it up, I’m really hoping the Bucks change something for Game 2. Perhaps a lineup change, certainly a scheme change, something like that. I don’t think the Bucks can afford to run what they did tonight and hope for better in Game 2. This is the finals, you’re now 3 losses away from your season being over. You can’t afford to go down 0-2 to the Suns. Something has to change.
Phoenix Suns (1-0)
The Suns dominated this game. They looked very fresh and sharp and they led for most of the game. They picked apart the Bucks switching defense and their pace was just too much for the Bucks. After every shot, miss or make, it led to a fastbreak. They got good bench production and shooting and their defense was solid as they looked very good in Game 1.
Pick and roll defense was somewhere where the Suns could take advantage and they really did take advantage. The Bucks did a lot of switching with Brook Lopez and CP-3 and Booker got open jumpshots/drew a foul almost every single time one of those switches happened. Sometimes they threw it down to Ayton when he had a smaller guy on him.
But the Suns really dominated those pick and rolls but their transition offense was great. They had 20 fastbreak points and 16 points off turnovers. They got a lot of easy dunks and layups just because they were pushing the ball really well. I definitely like the pace and I could see them just continuing to get out and run with the success that they had in this game.
The Bucks have been dominating teams in the paint so far this postseason, but the Suns had a 44-42 paint advantage. Both benches were solid but Phoenix forced more turnovers and got more points off turnovers. The Suns were 25/26 from the free throw line, taking advantage of those Bucks’ fouls and they also limited the Bucks to 16 free throws. The Suns looked very good in Game 1, as they look to try and assert themselves in these finals.
Chris Paul was great. 32 points and 9 assists on 63% shooting, he was very good in those pick and rolls and getting to his spots.
Devin Booker got to the line a lot (10/10) and finished with 27 points and 6 rebounds. Deandre Ayton had 22 points and 19 rebounds, very good in transition and he was a rebounding machine. Mikal Bridges added 14 points. Cameron Payne and Johnson each had 10 off the bench.
Jae Crowder didn’t do much offensively, as he was 0/8 from the field, but he played really good defense on Giannis. He had the highest +/- on the team with a +19.
The Suns looked really comfortable and in control. The Suns offense was driven by their pace and aggressiveness, getting to the free throw line and attacking the Bucks switches. Their defense was solid as they made life tough for the Bucks most of the time. Expect some changes by the Bucks on both ends, but a great start to the series for the Bucks.
What Are Your Thoughts From Game 1? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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