NBA Finals: Milwaukee Bucks vs. Phoenix Suns, Part 3 | Bucks lead 3-2

[KIRAG]

Next game will be the hardest game for the Bucks. They have the homecourt on their side but Suns will for sure adjust and I feel Booker will have more facilitating than what he's done the past few games.

He tried too much to be like Kobe and thought he would have his "legendary" moment and win the game for them but Jrue Holiday happened. Booker forgot even Kobe passed the ball to his teammates at crucial point of the game to win them a championship.

What adjustments do you think they have left? Unless you consider the refs allowing Booker to just tackle people now an "adjustment".

Others will get more involved beside Jae freaking Crowder. We will probably see more passing from Booker and not as much ISOs like the past games. I am expecting Cam Johnson or Bridges to have a big game. Pretty sure Bucks already knows this, they just need to execute well especially on the defensive end. Suns will not beat them on defense for sure so they will try to do so on offense and last game was probably the best game of Jrue in this series not only on D but on offense as well. If last game's Jrue and Middleton don't show up next game, Suns can still take game 6. So yeah, this will be the game to ultimately test the Bucks resiliency and consistency

[DrWood]

Lol so many insecure posts. This Bucks team would still lose to last year's Heat team. Their best version was 2019 and had plenty of struggles against just the Hawks. I'm not even going to bring up Brooklyn. That same Hawks team likely gets swept in 2019 against any of the top seeds.

Most recent Boston championship: 9.30 SRS, followed by 7.44 and 3.37.

You got me. Bucks are the best champions of the last 35 years. Unfortunate luck for the Suns that they made the Finals only to come across this Bucks team. If it was any other year they too would have dismantled all previous champions. That's how good the Suns are and that's what makes the Bucks the greatest team in history. Anyone who disagrees has no perspective and has no clue.

Oh no, dude. The GSW championship teams are heads and away the best recent championship teams. Every other one is in a lower tier, but they're almost all in the same tier.

[KIRAG]

What a great game 5. Very well played, very good execution. Let me just make this simple point so that the criticism is fair.

Phoenix has 3 guys in their starting lineup who can't create their own shot-- Ayton, Bridges and Crowder. All 3 of them need Paul to create offense for them. This wasn't a problem in previous series because none of the previous opponents could do anything to stop Paul. So they could just get to their spots and shoot wide open looks when Paul broke teams down. It was either a midrange jumper for Paul or wide open shots off of kicks or swings.

Milwaukee has the best defensive guard in the NBA. And Holiday has cut off the head of the snake. He has shut of Paul's drive game without needing help, meaning no open looks for those 3 Suns. So when the ball does come to them, they can't do anything except move it or try to create for themselves with predictable results.

I love Bridges. He's going to be great. But he needs time to develop his offense game. Crowder is the definition of not good enough. He can't do anything unless he has a wide open look. And he's very overrated defensively. Williams benched him most of that 2nd half and then when they brought him back, he had that terrible and-1 foul on Middleton. Ayton is great but most bigs depend on their guards.

So everything has fallen on Booker's shoulders to create offense for the Suns in the half court. And he's done very well. He almost won game 4 by himself. It's unfair to blame him for their losses because the Suns aren't giving him any help. Against a great defensive team. If anything, he gets more shine from me for accepting the burden and fighting like a warrior. That's why I said after game 4, the Suns don't have enough offense against this great Bucks defense. Stats guys might say that all 5 of the Suns starters scored in double figures but most of that was bunched in the 1st half when they came out on fire. When it came to the critical 4th, they did nothing.

Contrast that with the Bucks who have 3 guys who can get their own offense with 1 of them unstoppable attacking from the midpost. There is no scheme to shut them off especially with the good sets that they run.

In the twilight of his star-crossed career, at the brink of a ship that is obviously slipping away, it would only make sense that the hero, Chris Paul would have to face an impossible task. To match up against the best defensive guard in the league, against a great defensive team with so much length, on the road, down 3-2, he has 2 games to prove that he is a true NBA legend. It really would be legendary.

Totally agree. Defense still wins games. Bucks don't have a consistent bucket getter like the Suns have but their defense is primarily why they were able to come back in this series.

[AussieCeltic]

I have no dog in this fight but its impossible not to root for Giannis at this point.

Such an amazing story and good guy. Feels like he deserves it.

You sure have turned your opinion around fast.

You were calling the Bucks frauds after game 1.

[The Box Office]

What a great game 5. Very well played, very good execution. Let me just make this simple point so that the criticism is fair.

Phoenix has 3 guys in their starting lineup who can't create their own shot-- Ayton, Bridges and Crowder. All 3 of them need Paul to create offense for them. This wasn't a problem in previous series because none of the previous opponents could do anything to stop Paul. So they could just get to their spots and shoot wide open looks when Paul broke teams down. It was either a midrange jumper for Paul or wide open shots off of kicks or swings.

Milwaukee has the best defensive guard in the NBA. And Holiday has cut off the head of the snake. He has shut of Paul's drive game without needing help, meaning no open looks for those 3 Suns. So when the ball does come to them, they can't do anything except move it or try to create for themselves with predictable results.

I love Bridges. He's going to be great. But he needs time to develop his offense game. Crowder is the definition of not good enough. He can't do anything unless he has a wide open look. And he's very overrated defensively. Williams benched him most of that 2nd half and then when they brought him back, he had that terrible and-1 foul on Middleton. Ayton is great but most bigs depend on their guards.

So everything has fallen on Booker's shoulders to create offense for the Suns in the half court. And he's done very well. He almost won game 4 by himself. It's unfair to blame him for their losses because the Suns aren't giving him any help. Against a great defensive team. If anything, he gets more shine from me for accepting the burden and fighting like a warrior. That's why I said after game 4, the Suns don't have enough offense against this great Bucks defense. Stats guys might say that all 5 of the Suns starters scored in double figures but most of that was bunched in the 1st half when they came out on fire. When it came to the critical 4th, they did nothing.

Contrast that with the Bucks who have 3 guys who can get their own offense with 1 of them unstoppable attacking from the midpost. There is no scheme to shut them off especially with the good sets that they run.

In the twilight of his star-crossed career, at the brink of a ship that is obviously slipping away, it would only make sense that the hero, Chris Paul would have to face an impossible task. To match up against the best defensive guard in the league, against a great defensive team with so much length, on the road, down 3-2, he has 2 games to prove that he is a true NBA legend. It really would be legendary.

Totally agree. Defense still wins games. Bucks don't have a consistent bucket getter like the Suns have but their defense is primarily why they were able to come back in this series.

I also preach defense. A lot of posters here do not understand this concept. Any scrub in the NBA can get buckets, but not many can put in good defense. Some of them do not even try on defense. LOL.

[trickshot]

I feel like game 6 is gonna be a blowout for Milwaukee. Phoenixs shooting will regress and itll get ugly

I just don't see it. I think every comfortable lead in this series has been squandered or brought back to single digits. Has to be some sort of record. Both teams are too resilient to stay blown out.

[thomchatt3rton]

Next game will be the hardest game for the Bucks. They have the homecourt on their side but Suns will for sure adjust and I feel Booker will have more facilitating than what he's done the past few games.

He tried too much to be like Kobe and thought he would have his "legendary" moment and win the game for them but Jrue Holiday happened. Booker forgot even Kobe passed the ball to his teammates at crucial point of the game to win them a championship.

What adjustments do you think they have left? Unless you consider the refs allowing Booker to just tackle people now an "adjustment".

In the 4th Q game 5, Suns put Booker on Midds and it seemed to really muck up our offense.

Savvy move because late in a game, refs are reluctant to call fouls on Book, especially off-ball, so he was allowed to be EXTREMELY physical playing ball-denial—holding, grabbing, pulling.

Idk if this is viable full-game strategy because of fatigue and foul trouble, but I bet we see it in spurts.


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[trickshot]

If the Suns want to win they need to move away from trying to exploit mismatches because they don't have any.. that's how they got into the ISO-heavy offense and how guys like Cameron Johnson and Cam Payne disappeared.

Phoenix should focus on running their offense to get open shots for whoever gets them. Booker alone had 33fga's compared to 27 fga's for Payne, Craig, Crowder, Bridges, and Johnson. That's too easy for a team like the bucks to stop.. they just have to focus on 3 guys instead of all 5.

I'd continue putting Brook in pick and rolls but shooting over Connaughton is no longer the piss easy bucket it was in game 1. Dude knows what they want to do, stays tight and ready to contest but also impressive is he has been doing it without getting blown by. Having superior help and interior defense behind him no doubt helps as well. If the Bucks could tweak their coverage with Lopez to stop giving so many open pullups this thing might have been over already. I know it's because of Ayton rolling behind but Phoenix aren't going to miss those.

[duppyy]

Im hoping for a game 7 cause waiting for the draft is taking forever so need something to watch lol.

[Hello Brooklyn]

I have no dog in this fight but its impossible not to root for Giannis at this point.

Such an amazing story and good guy. Feels like he deserves it.

You sure have turned your opinion around fast.

You were calling the Bucks frauds after game 1.

I admitted I was wrong about the Bucks after Game 4.

Also youre confusing my analysis of the Bucks with my opinion of Giannis. I was always rooting for Giannis. Go read the Bucks board immediately after they won the Nets series.

[og15]

Bucks have made the plays (on both ends) to give themselves this lead. For Phoenix, they could legitimately have been up 3-1, and if things played out the same in game 5 (which they most likely wouldn't have), could have legitimately closed out this series in 5 games and been the champions.

If the Suns had been capable of making the plays defensively that the Bucks have been able to make, they could have already won this series, or at least be the ones up 3-2, that's a tough pill to swallow.

This next game feels like it will be one of those where either the team in the lead wins with a double digit margin, or the trailing team wins in a nail bitter. I don't see the Suns winning convincingly, but of course I'm not saying that can't happen. Definitely going to be a stressful game for Suns fans, but less so for Bucks fans, even though of course every team would rather win at home in game 6 than go on the road in game 7.

[jsierra1985]

Series is far from over......

[OmniStrife]

THIS is Suns bball... NOT Booker doing his best Kobe impression. We go back to this and we can win.
We don't - Congrats to the Bucks. Simple as that.

Watch on YouTube

[baller16]

The offense has not been an issue for the Suns. They couldn't buy a single stop in the 2nd and 3rd last game in part to the ridiculous shooting night from the Bucks. It wasn't until the end of the 4th quarter where they started playing really aggressive D to slow the Bucks down a bit. They need to up their defensive intensity and maybe start pressuring the ball handler in the back court like Jrue always does.

Chris Paul also needs to take control of the team. Team goes as far as CP3 takes them

[NyKnicks1714]

Series is far from over......

Agreed. As I write this we probably have about 32 hours before it's over. That's a long time.

[schnakenpopanz]

it is about pace, suns were better and more aggressive when they push the tempo.

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[ForeverTFC]

All this talk about the Suns offense is misguided. The Suns problem is not offense.

The Bucks have a 119.5 ORTG against them this series. Their playoff ORTG is 111.3. And they played the Heat, a depleted Nets and the the Hawks on the run up to this. You can't let a team that put up a <110 ORTG on its eastern conference opponents put 120 ORTG on your head and expect to win. It's really simple.

[TinmanZBoy]

it is about pace, suns were better and more aggressive when they push the tempo.

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a measured pace is in Suns favor since Bucks is deadly in transition ... you don't want to rack up the pace just for the sake of it... CP3 is a master to control the pace... the problem for Suns is rebounding first and foremost...
The bucks figured out the proper offense for them in this series, it is pretty hard to stop them if they don't do the self inflicted thing again, so you got to win the possession game from now on, otherwise Suns will not pass game 6...

[K3nny Pow3rs]

In Game 5, Phoenix had their best offensive game of the playoffs, 55%fg, 68%treys, 8 turnovers, so they probably shouldn't change anything.....and even their defense was good, but Milwaukee made contested shots. Phoenix should win G6 if they duplicate G5....

[ReddoverKobe]

In Game 5, Phoenix had their best offensive game of the playoffs, 55%fg, 68%treys, 8 turnovers, so they probably shouldn't change anything.....and even their defense was good, but Milwaukee made contested shots. Phoenix should win G6 if they duplicate G5....

Which most likely wont happen on the road in the Suns first closeout game this season.