NBA Finals; Bucks – Suns Game 2 Recap

Photo via CBS Sports

After Thursday’s night game 2 NBA Finals win on their home court, the Phoenix Suns now have a commanding 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks and are just 2 wins away from winning their first NBA championship in franchise history. The Suns are playing in their first NBA Finals since 1993, while the Bucks are playing in their first NBA Finals since 1974. Both franchises have high hopes of bringing the Larry O’Brien back to their respective cities and putting their mark on NBA history.

Phoenix Suns Ball Movement

During game 2 of the NBA Finals, we saw the Phoenix Suns move the ball amongst each other flawlessly. The suns had a total of 26 assists, compared to the Bucks 21. Phoenix had 1 possession where they passed the ball around to each other a total of 12 times before leading to Deandre Ayton finishing a and-one play in the paint, which led to them having all the momentum in the game heading into halftime. The Suns ball movement in the series has been spot on, with head coach Monty Williams having a .5 second rule which is when a player on his team touches the ball, they have .5 seconds to decide if they want to pass the ball, drive to the hole, or shoot the ball. If the Suns continue their excellent ball movement, it will be hard for the Bucks to win this series.

Bucks misreading Suns pick & rolls; Suns 3-point shooting

Another key factor in the game 2 loss for the Bucks was the miscommunication on defending pick & rolls by the Phoenix Suns. The mistakes on defending the pick & rolls led to Phoenix having several opportunities for wide open shots at the 3-point line and from midrange. The Suns shot a very efficient 50% from the 3-point line (20-40) while the Bucks only shot 29% from the 3-point line (9-31). Any team that can make 20 3-pointers in a game leading up to 60 points is going to be hard to beat. A handful of those 3-pointers made by the Suns came from Devin Booker, who went 7-12 (58%) in the game. Booker is also only 32 points away from breaking the record of most points in a player’s first NBA postseason behind hall of fame players Rick Barry (521 points) and Julius Erving (518 points). The Bucks must be better at reading those pick & roll plays and closing out at the 3-point line if they hope to get back into this series.

Khris Middleton & Jrue Holiday Struggles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G96oa81gKyQ

It is understandable for players to play better on their home court as opposed of playing on the road. The struggles of Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday in this series so far is very noticeable, and if the Bucks want to get back into the series, they will need both Middleton and Holiday to step up. In game 1 of the series, Middleton had a solid outing, shooting 12/26 from the field and finishing with 29 points, but he also had 5 turnovers in the game and a +/- of -11. For Holiday in game 1, he got completely outplayed by Chris Paul and he shot a horrendous 4/14 from the field, finishing with only 10 points and a +/- of -16. Both players had terrible games during game 2, with Middleton shooting 5/16 for only 11 points, and Holiday shooting 7/21 from the field and finishing with only 17 points. Every NBA fan knows that both Middleton and Holiday can go off for 30 plus points any given night. The Bucks 2x MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo gave it his all in the game 2 loss, finishing with a total of 42 points in 40 minutes of play, and grabbed 12 rebounds, which is a spectacular stat line considering just 10 days ago the Bucks did not know if Giannis would be available for the NBA Finals after his knee injury in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks. Middleton and Jrue Holiday both will have to step up and give Giannis a helping hand in game 3, back on their home court in Milwaukee if they want to avoid going down 3-0 in these NBA Finals, which as history shows, is impossible to come back from.

Booker, CP3, role players stepping up

Photo via Nathaniel S. Butler

So far in this series, Chris Paul has had the advantage over Bucks starting point guard Jrue Holiday. CP3 had a team high 32 points along with 9 assists in game 1, and 23 points with 8 assists in game 2. In his 16th year in the NBA at age 36, Paul is focused on winning his 1st NBA championship, and he isn’t letting anyone get in his way to solidify his legacy as top point guard in this game. Devin Booker has been spectacular throughout these NBA playoffs as well, scoring 27 in game 1 and 31 in game 2. Another key factor for the Suns is starting center Deandre Ayton, who has been nothing short of great throughout this playoff run. Ayton does it all on the court, whether it be scoring in the paint, defending, or grabbing boards. The key to the Suns game 2 win was Mikal Bridges, who had the game of his life on the biggest stage, finishing game 2 with a total of 27 points while shooting 53% from the field. The Bucks will need key role players such as P.J. Tucker and Brook Lopez to step up in game 3 if they have hopes of staying in the series. The Suns role players have outplayed the Bucks role players so far throughout this series, and if they continue to outplay Milwaukee’s star players and role players, the Larry O’Brien trophy will be coming to Phoenix for the first time in franchise history.