With only a week or so left of the 2020-21 NBA season our Kicks Through the Lens articles are about to wrap up until the fall. Devin Booker wanted to remind all of us this past week that he too can pull out some heat like Tucker and Galloway. It is now clear that the Kobe 4’s are most likely Booker’s favorite Bryant signature sneaker as he broke out a never-before-seen UNDFTD collab of them this past week. Tucker sported some major Oregon P.E. heat as well as a Kobe 4 of his own. Due to there only being two teams left, our Kicks Through the Lens articles for the rest of season will feature on-foot images from both practice and games. Scroll below to see who snagged our five spots this week in our countdown.
Through three Finals games, a couple of things are certainly uncertain: this series is far from over, but at the same time feel as if they’re only a few key adjustments from really being over in a sum of five to six games.
The Milwaukee Bucks seemed down and out after throwing their best punch in Game two, only to have it demoralizingly dissipate as the Suns pounced on them with ferocity during their 118-108 win to jump ahead 2-0, with only two more wins needed to capture the Franchise’s first NBA Championship.
Devin Booker mentally tweaked his game and was unfazed with Milwaukee’s activity and pesky length on defense, dropping 31 of the team’s 118 points off of a fairly efficient 12-for-25 shooting and 7-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc, and Chris Paul took over in the third and fourth quarters with another signature closeout performance, scoring 23 points and accompanying his scoring efforts with 10 assists even with Jrue Holiday in his face.
Milwaukee mostly went away from the aggressive switching plan that didn’t work out too well for them in Game 1, but two straight forgettable efforts on offense by both Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday only dampened what was a solid defensive gameplan and an all-time Finals showcase from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who not only scored 42 points off 15-for-21 shooting with 12 assists to boot (albeit, coming off a significant knee injury) but did so while singlehandedly keeping the Bucks in the game as the first player with 20+ points in a single NBA Finals quarter in the last 25 years. Antetokounmpo scored 20 points all by himself and was up to 32 points by the third’s end.
Bur for the rest of the Bucks, who entered the third quarter down by 11, they only cut into the deficit by a mere point, ending the quarter down 10. Khris Middleton struggled the entire night to get into a consistent rhythm and finished with only 11 points off 5-for-16 shooting, and the same was said for Jrue Holiday, who finished Game 2 with only 17 points off 7-for-21 shooting.
However, Game three on home soil told a different story, but not one the Suns would have particularly enjoyed listening to. Another signature Giannis Antetokounmpo masterclass was put on Sunday night, in which the two-time MVP and Defensive Player of the Year went for his second-consecutive 40+ point night and became the fourth highest-scoring player in NBA Finals history during their championship round debut as the Bucks won their first Finals game in 47 years.
But that’s a story we’ll get into during these weekly Power Rankings, where we break down the remaining teams in this year’s playoffs and who has the most salient advantages and injurious disadvantages in this Final postseason series.
(46-26, Won 4-0 vs. Miami Heat in First Round, Won 4-3 vs. No. 2 Brooklyn Nets in ECSF, Won 4-2 vs. Atlanta Hawks in ECF, Down 1-2 vs. West’s No. 2 Phoenix Suns in NBA Finals, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)
What we’re witnessing from Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t human, in more ways than one.
When Clint Capela made his knee bend backwards during a routine drive to the rim in transition during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, it seemed like every championship hope that Bucks fans had during their greatest opportunity to win a championship just faded away as he sustained that hyperextended knee (accidental) injury at the hands of the Hawks center. Until Game one of the Finals, that is. Antetokounmpo looked as explosive as he could’ve, scoring a pedestrian-yet-respectable 20 points off 6-for-11 shooting as he tried to get back to repeating the motions prior to his injury.
But best believe, as Antetokounmpo ground his teeth together and put on the affect display of a man who didn’t want to die just yet, Games two and three have been some showings of legend, that in which we likely will not see for quite some time unless he and the Bucks are back in the Finals next year.
Head coach Mike Budenholzer strategized a gameplan to put even more pressure on rising star Suns center Deandre Ayton in the halfcourt by primarily keeping Giannis at the center spot which limited the Suns’ capabilities at running their Pick and Roll sets ad nauseam atop the key, while also upping the pace both in the halfcourt and in transition, where Ayton unsuccessfully impeded the path of Antetokounmpo in Game three. Giannis continued his already legendary 2020-21 postseason with his 41 points off 13-for-21 shooting with 13 rebounds and 6 assists.
And while ethering the spirit of another dominating big man who wreaked havoc and wore purple and gold, Antetokounmpo became as he put up a second-straight stat-line of 40+ points and 12+ rebounds, joining Shaquille O’Neal in the 2000 Finals and LeBron James in the 2016 Finals.
And where Paul and Booker were unable to find daylight during the Bucks many runs to go up by as many as 25 points, Ayton was bombarded on the offensive glass and in the open court, where Milwaukee made it an emphasis to get him in foul trouble.
And from there, the Bucks busted the game open.
Phoenix losing Dario Saric may not have bruised them on the offensive end – well, maybe, if ever so slightly due to Saric’s role as a Pick and Pop Power Forward off the bench – but he presented a viable asset of height during Phoenix’s running of small lineups when Ayton sat. And with Ayton picking up four fouls before the third quarter even concluded, it gave Budenholzer’s Bucks the opportunity to gash the opening even further with running Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, and PJ Tucker with Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, a lineup that has helped to produce a +7.4 net rating and a 70.0 Defensive Rating this postseason.
Lineups like this heavily assisted the Bucks on the glass as they outrebounded the Suns 47-36 though four quarters, and as a team roles from Games two and three were switched in the turnover margin, as the Suns committed a total of 15 turnovers compared to the Bucks’ nine.
And speaking of Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, the bad mojo finally wore off, and schematically, allowing two volume scorers and floor setters at the point and the two/three to dictate the pace of the offense, rather the game, by keeping Giannis Antetokounmpo on the block and as a high screener did wonders for the scoring duo who are playing in their first Finals together.
The duo monumentally improved in their scoring ability in Game three at home, and Middleton (18 points on 14 shots, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) made his impact as their venerable isolation scorer as well as a defense-bending setup man. Holiday on the other hand (21 points off 8-for-14 shooting and 5-for-10 from deep) did the same, but made sure to aggravate Chris Paul on the other end who only got up a total of 14 shots as the team’s primary scorer. And with Devin Booker struggling as he did, it just made shrinking the floor that much easier.
And again, more importantly, as Devin Booker (10 points on 21.4 percent shooting) wore what looked a to be a demure facial expression thanks to the exemplary defensive masterpiece put together by Budenholzer and his coaching staff in Sunday night’s beatdown, Phoenix realizes they’re in for a fight .
(51-21, Won 4-2 vs. No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers in First Round, Won 4-0 vs. No. 3 Denver Nuggets in WCSF, Won 4-2 vs. No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers in WCF, Up 2-1 vs. East’s No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks in NBA Finals, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)
Two straight wins over the second-best defensive team in this year’s playoffs were not flukey wins by any means, and getting hot at the right time is an attribute many teams and players would favor having on their side with the benefits getting in the zone provide for a team playing off the steam of momentum. But like all fiery runs, and a flame itself really, they cool off every now and then and decrease in volume.
Metaphorically, that was the case in Game three for the Phoenix Suns, who haven’t (yet) seen the sky fall onto their heads as they still lead the NBA Finals 2 games to 1, and adjustments permitted could be headed back to Phoenix with a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals with the opportunity to close out the series later this week and win their first title in franchise history.
But, like we explained up in the Bucks’ section, a few things will have to happen to ensure the best road team in the league this year reverberates their reputation in the second-biggest series the franchise has ever competed in:
For starters: Deandre Ayton cannot – and I repeat *cannot* – be off the floor for an entire duration of a quarter and more. There were too many times in Sunday’s contest in which Ayton’s foul trouble resorted in the Suns getting desecrated on the offensive glass by the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, PJ Tucker, Brook Lopez and others, and it largely resulted in a litany of second-chance points.
The lack of a domineering rim presence that Ayton provided which cut off nearly 2/3rds of the floor for Milwaukee in Games one and two was deliberately noticeable, and there existed a semblance of open leeway for the Bucks to get whatever they wanted during the operations of Monty Williams’ small lineups.
Offensively and defensively, the Suns could not crack the height-heavy Bucks lineups when Ayton was off of the floor during the Bucks’ 30-9 run to end the first half, and as they remained small due to their depth becoming involuntarily anemic due to some injuries and shifting of less-skilled defenders in Dario Saric’s spot to supplement the responsibilities he’d be tasked with, they paid for it with an embarrassing 20-point loss to a Bucks team that now has life. Frank Kaminsky and Cameron Johnson were the second and third options to counter the Bucks’ size in the paint, but wooden planks would’ve been more sufficient as the Bucks flowed into their PnR sets and ran a majority of their actions on the areas they stood at.
However, keep in mind: the Suns were only down three at the end of the first quarter prior to Ayton picking up his third and fourth fouls, and when that happened, Budenholzer’s Bucks did not take the opportunity for granted, employing that Portis-Antetokounmpo-Holiday-Middleton-Tucker lineup to run up the points in the paint stat column. As these playoffs go, runs are countered by runs, but even as the Suns cut it to within four with 5:22 remaining in the third quarter, the Bucks responded with a emphatic 24-6 run to close the quarter and put the game out of reach. Phoenix couldn’t score and got cold due to the tenacity on D that the Bucks displayed in a must-win game and therefore, took the tandem of Chris Paul and Devin Booker out of the equation in the second half.
Which brings us to our second point: the outside shooting, and Devin Booker, have to be better.
Granted, a lot of the Suns spacing largely revolves around the positioning of the bigs in this Phoenix offense, and the off-ball movement of every action is dependent on the ball handlers’ ability to dribble-manipulate their defender into call for more help so that the centers can receive the balls in their favorite spots, and equally have the liberty to facilitate the rock around the perimeter to find the weakside shooter.
But, for a player of his caliber who is adept at tough shot-making, it’s on Monty Williams’ onus to get Booker into his spots and stay the course so he doesn’t see a repeat of his homely Game 3 performance. PJ Tucker covered Booker for the time they did not switch their matchups, but when they did Giannis Antetokounmpo waited in the wings for him off every ball screen on the wings.
Chris Paul (team-high 19 points off 8-for-14 shooting) saw bodies off switches and the same stingy, air-tight defense that his backcourt cohort saw, but during the massive runs they gave up to Milwaukee, the Suns saw driving lanes close up faster than a Venus Fly Trap as Milwaukee responded with defensive ferocity, hard close-outs, stunts-and-recoveries, and physicality coming towards the Suns in bunches. Those all got D. Book out of whack, resulting in a 10-point, 3-for-14 disaster of a playoff performance he’d like to throw in the garbage.
Those tough jumpers he made in their home games this series didn’t go in as much as he wanted them to during the beginning of Milwaukee’s home stand, but they’ll have to in Game four if the Suns don’t want to lose their series lead to a Bucks team that feel like they have the formula to success.
Phoenix largely found success in the scoring department with a rousing outing from Cameron Johnson on the offensive end, kickstarted after a thunderous poster on PJ Tucker as the second half commenced. He went on a flaming-hot scoring streak in the third, and finished Game 3 with 14 points off 5-for-11 shooting. But he only knocked down one three as opposed to the four threes he’s made as a kickout-knockdown shooter last night. And as a team, the outside shooting shockingly cooled off, as Phoenix only hit on 9 of their 31 attempts from downtown (29 percent). That won’t cut it.
So, as game four approaches, the Suns have their work cut out for them in a game that’s transformed into a high-pressure must-win contest. They still do not have an answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who by all means will put on one of the greatest (top-5, even?) Finals performances of all-time should the Bucks see this through by getting all favorable looks in the halfcourt for him and his teammates – both by design and by his their own accords – and if Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are spotting their mismatches, consistently scoring and creating in the half-court for themselves and others…it might not be over just yet.
And here we are – the NBA Finals. Over nearly two months of pulsating NBA action has landed us here, where the two remaining teams after the smoke has cleared went to battle during Game one of what should be an entertaining series.
In his first-ever NBA Finals appearance, Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns stormed out in front for the 1-0 lead in the series, as Paul and backcourt cohort Devin Booker (also competing in his first NBA Finals after seven years with the Suns) scored a combined 59 points off an exact 50 percent shooting, scoring over a half of the team’s points in their 118-105 win at home. And for a team that won the fourth-most games on home soil amongst the other 29 teams in the league, the atmosphere of Talking Stick Resort Arena was as electric as you could.
Competing in their third-ever NBA Finals, it seemed as if the Suns couldn’t miss while the Bucks faltered mightily and fell behind as much as 20 points, but the good news is that Giannis Antetokounmpo, who many speculated wouldn’t be on the team’s minutes rotation due to anxieties over his hyperextended knee that he injured during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, looked spry and explosive without any noticeable discomfort in his first game back since the injury.
Brook Lopez was the team’s second-highest scorer and was a threat underneath the bucket as a consistent threat on the glass, but conversely played the unfavorable role of a defensive liability as the Suns attacked him what felt like all night when the Bucks committed to switching nearly all of their matchups to limit the Suns’ offensive attack to get out in transition.
As the NBA Finals are – and have always been – a chess match filled with adjustments (and adjustments on adjustments to those adjustments that will need adjustments), game one will likely look way different than every other game in this series. In this week’s Power Rankings, we’ll break down both teams in a detailed-and-succinct manner, and explain who has the advantage heading into Game two.
(51-21, Won 4-2 vs. No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers in First Round, Won 4-0 vs. No. 3 Denver Nuggets in WCSF, Won 4-2 vs. No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers in WCF, Up 1-0 vs. East’s No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks in NBA Finals, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)
As mentioned last week, the Suns are competing in their first NBA Finals since 1993, when league MVP Charles Barkley called the shots in a tough series against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls that they ultimately lost in six games. And since then, it had been years worth of regression and playoff failure, up until a certain Canadian Point Guard by the name of Steve Nash staked his claim as one of the game’s best-ever during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Nash’s 2008 MVP, the Suns’ top seeds through 2008 through 2010, and their success in the 21st century never materialized into a championship and since 2010, the Suns hadn’t materialized a successful season that would even land them a playoff berth.
Until the 2020-21 season, that is.
A year-long Cinderella story has looked anything but during one of the most shocking NBA Playoff runs in league history, and it’s culminated in their first Finals berth in 28 years as they found a way to outlast the resilient Los Angeles Clippers in six games during the Western Conference Finals.
The ageless wonder, and publically-described “Point Gawd”, Chris Paul, at age 36, has engineered a season for the ages, exceeding pre-season expectations and advancing the young-but-improving Phoenix Suns to the playoffs, acquiring the second-seed, winning 51 games, posting the best road record in the NBA, and helping to get the Suns through the gauntlet of the Western playoffs, as they beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, MVP Nikola Jokic and the three-seed Denver Nuggets in the Conference Semis, and Paul George and the Clippers in the Conference Finals to get to this point. And last night, the Suns showed why they were championship favorites with a dominant win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Paul scored a team-high 32 points off 12-19 shooting with nine assists to boot and looked ferocious, prepared, and unafraid of the No. 2 defense in these playoffs by staying aggressive against a lengthy defense when they switched Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis onto the 11-time All-Star as he utilized all three levels of the floor to both score and scramble the Bucks’ defense with some drive-kick assists to shooters like Cameron Johnson (10 points off 3-for-6 shooting and 2-for-4 shooting from behind the arc) and Mikal Bridges (14 points off 5-for-13 shooting and 2-for-4 shooting from behind the arc).
Add on Devin Booker’s 27 points from punishing the Bucks’ defense when they failed to erase the elbows and turn him into a driver to the rim, Cam Johnson providing a spark off of the bench in the minutes when Devin Booker or Chris Paul sat, Torrey Craig being a force on the offensive glass when Dario Saric went out as the Suns went small during the non-Ayton minutes, and Jae Crowder’s game-high +19 (even with scoring only one point off of 0-for-8 shooting!) the stat sheet when he kept Khris Middleton silent through nearly three quarters, and you get the Suns’ first win in the Finals in 28 years.
They vociferously blitzed the Bucks, answering with vehemence whenever the Bucks went on a run of their own. Game one featured a signature performance from both Paul and Booker, but one they’ve been privy to putting on all year during this magical season of theirs as they lead 1-0 over the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals.
(46-26, Won 4-0 vs. No. 6 Miami Heat in First Round, Won 4-3 vs. No. 2 Brooklyn Nets in ECSF, Won 3-2 vs. Atlanta Hawks in ECF, Down 0-1 vs. West’s No. 2 Phoenix Suns in NBA Finals, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)
Well, hey, it’s only Game one, right?
Giannis Antetokounmpo was announced as a full-go before Game one of the Finals and looked as explosive and crafty as ever by scoring in transition as well as giving both DeAndre Ayton and Cameron Johnson problems in the halfcourt on numerous occasions as well, as the 6’9 Goliath of a Power Forward played an unrestricted 35 minutes and scored a team-high 20 points off 6-for-11 shooting.
And at the beginning of Game one, the Bucks were going blow-for-blow with the offensively superpowered Phoenix Suns as Antetokounmpo was a lightning bolt in transition and at times, overpowered rising superstar big man Ayton during the 5 minutes and 19 seconds he was matched up with him, as he scored or assisted for a total of 26 of the team’s 105 points through four quarters against him.
But when other anchors of the team faltered on both ends, such as Jrue Holiday appearing as a -16 at the conclusion of Game one (played 40 minutes, shot 4-for-14 shooting, 0-for-4 shooting from deep for 10 points) and PJ Tucker being run off the line as a spot-up shooter and failing to make the defense pay from a litany of blown layups and runners as well as display unconventional leniency by letting up on Devin Booker for the entire night (7 points off 3-for-6 shooting, 1-for-2 shooting from deep, -14 through 33.2 minutes), Booker too made the Bucks feel the consequences of their failure to crowd the elbows and not get him out of rhythm early. Those two have to be better if the Bucks are to get in this series.
They allowed him to score 27 points in the superstar’s first NBA Finals appearance, and it felt like more of a conceding effort and a “give them this one and save the ace card for later” kind of loss. There will be a palpable time to adjust during a series in which gameplan tweaks will be prerequisites to success, so you better believe Game one is unlikely to tell the story of this entire series.
At a point in the third quarter, the Bucks found a way to go on a 7-0 run that cut deeply into what was already a 17-point deficit, but as they found they ingredient to softening the blow of the Suns’ attack late in the second half, it was too late to mount a comeback.
Brook Lopez scored the third-highest amount of points (17 points off 7-for-14 shooting, 3-for-5 shooting in 23 minutes), but he finished Game one as a -17, and it was as if his offensive output was as meaningful as someone earning a B- on a final in a class they failed in all year. What’s worse – Khris Middleton, who finished with 29 points and went on a personal run of his own in the third quarter, was almost invisible through the first half as Jae Crowder kept him under wraps.
The Suns were out for blood when they realized the Bucks were going to be apprehensive playing up high on the arc with Lopez as the second body during their utilization of their “switch everything” gameplan, and they paid for it dearly. Bobby Portis got the same treatment and was even less effective as Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Cameron Payne (off the bench) all took turns destroying the bigs of Milwaukee and winning the 1v1s when they were gifted those switches.
So now, Game two is on the horizon for the Bucks. Head Coach Mike Budenholzer may have found two factors that could be cost-effective during the remainder of this series, but those two factors could be enough to turn the tide of a series that could quickly get away from them if they don’t commit to them sooner rather than later.
For starters, the innumerable amount of switching that Budenholzer forced the Bucks to do ultimately did them for the majority of the game, as the Pick-and-Roll situation to limit both Paul and Booker remains unsolved in the larger picture. So, they have to limit the amount of switching while remaining physical with both Paul and Booker for 48 minutes. They might have a chance of stopping them from running their high PnR sets so freely, should they do so early in Game two. Also, employing a combination of zone looks could also help, as it’ll force the Suns to use the shot clock and put the ball in the hands of the Suns’ less-talented scorers off the bounce to win the game for them.
And secondly, the operation of Giannis Antetokounmpo at the center position stretches the floor enough for the two-time MVP and 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year to equally break down the Suns in the post as well as give him a running start to attack DeAndre Ayton in the halfcourt, while giving him the full arsenal to restrict Ayton from freely taking the game over in the open court as his primary matchup.
Should the Bucks adjust properly, Milwaukee will split the series on the road and grasp a scoop of momentum heading back to the Fiserv Forum for Game 3.
If not, the Suns will be halfway to winning their first title in franchise history.
The stage is set, not only for the two best teams in the NBA, but for the two most prominent sneaker aficionados in the league. The Suns and Bucks will battle it out for the Larry O’Brien trophy, while another “series” in and of itself will be taking place between P.J. Tucker and Langston Galloway. At no time has there been a sneaker showdown of this extent in an NBA Finals between two players who have never had their own signature sneaker. This past week we saw P.J. Tucker debut the new Zoom Freak 3’s before Giannis even did. Langston Galloway dug into his archive of some venerable KD and LeBron models; rocking kicks older than ten years . Lastly, Tucker brought back a classic Nike basketball silhouette in a fan-favorite color scheme made just for certain players. Scroll below to see which pair grabbed the top spot in this week’s Kicks Through the Lens.
5. 2018 Nike PG 2.5 “Playstation Multi-Color” – Paul George
The journey to this point of the 2020-2021 NBA Season has been grueling and riddled with surprises, and this year’s Playoffs have been no different. The stage is now set for this year’s Finals with two unlikely names in the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Finals shall be comprised of two teams that haven’t made many championship runs in many year’s past. The Phoenix Suns had quite the stretch in last year’s bubble in Orlando, only to fall short of making it to the NBA Playoffs while on the other side, the Milwaukee Bucks had a short stint in last year’s Playoffs. Both organizations have interesting narratives regarding their respective journey’s to the NBA Finals.
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As previously stated, the Phoenix Suns made an incredible run in last year’s NBA Bubble in Orlando going 8-0 to finish out the season. Unfortunately for them, it was not quite enough to propel themselves into contention of the NBA Playoffs. With some roster adjustments this coming season, most notably with Chris Paul in the mix, things had changed quite clearly, now knowing that the Suns are now four wins away of achieving the NBA Championship, something that no one on that roster may want more than said Chris Paul himself, the perennial all-star point guard who has made it to the Playoffs 13 out of 16 years in the league. Alongside Paul, is the young core of the Suns roster in Deandre Ayton, who in which has truly come into form this post season as well as the bright future of the Phoenix Suns organization that is Devin Booker.
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Similar to their Western opposition in this Finals series, the Milwaukee Bucks have shown a great deal of resiliency on their journey to this point in the post-season. Giannis and crew have made consecutive trips to the Playoffs as of the 2016-2017 NBA Season, unfortunately to no success despite going into some Playoffs as the 1st seed and the overall favorites to win the Championship. They’ve received much criticism from both NBA fans and the media alike, and to see them finally have the opportunity to disprove such commentary is something not to be taken lightly. With the addition of Jrue Holiday, the Bucks have potentially found that extra push that was needed to get them where they ultimately wanted to be.
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Keys to the series:
Phoenix Suns: With the kinds of numbers that the Phoenix Suns core have been putting up, it almost safe to say that Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, and Devin Booker will provide a good amount of the offense. However, it is also imperative for the role players on the team that have been imperative to their success thus far, proceed to impact the game of both sides of the floor. This would include individuals such as Cameron Payne, Jae Crowder, and Mikal Bridges to name a few.
Milwaukee Bucks: Knowing that Giannis Antetokounmpo will be sitting out Game 1 of this series may present some concerns for Bucks fans and the Bucks organization alike. It is still unsure if or when he’ll be cleared to play in the series at all, and with that in mind the remainder of the Bucks roster must be able to pick up any slack that may be left in Giannis’ absence as they did in the closeout game against Atlanta. Another key thing to keep an eye out for is Milwaukee’s ability to contain the Suns offensively as much as humanly possible, throwing different defensive looks at Booker and Paul.
Prediction: Bucks in 6.
With all this in mind we are merely hours away from tip-off where Milwaukee Bucks will be taking on the Phoenix Suns for Game 1 of the 2020-2021 NBA Finals. Both the game and the series for the NBA Championship will begin at 6:00PM PST on ABC.
