Re: SUNS NEWS: 2021 FINALS EDITION SUNS vs BUCKS
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 6:19 pm
Tim Legler is probably the best NBA analyst on ESPN. I like that he's confident in picking the Suns.
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I think the point guard match up is not as easy as CP3 being better. He is better than Jrue, no question, but Jrue is one of my favorite defenders in the league, at 6'4 ~200 lbs, he's the right kind of physical, and a very disruptive defender. He will make CP3's life difficult, and in this series we'll likely need Payne to step up to take away some of the pressure on Paul.Mori Chu wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 6:59 amI posted this in the Game 1 Game Day thread, but it may be more of a series-wide topic, so I'll cross-post it here.
Am I crazy for being completely confident that we are going to beat the Bucks in this series? I just look at their team and feel strongly that we are better.
PG - Jrue vs CP3 - Point God is better, no contest.
SG - Connaughton vs Booker - LMAO c'mon.
SF - Middleton vs Bridges - Middleton is the much better offensive player, but Bridges is an all-NBA worthy defender and will slow him down.
PF - Tucker vs Crowder - Our rugged veteran 3&D PF is younger and shooting much better than theirs.
C - Lopez vs Ayton - Ayton will shut down any Lopez inside game and can also somewhat bother his outside shooting as needed.
Now, sure, if you put Giannis in the lineup Milwaukee gets much better. But you just put Ayton on Giannis and that will limit him about as well as you can hope for. There's our "Giannis stopper," or as close as you can get to having one. He's shot quite poorly vs Ayton in recent regular season matchups.
Bench - Payne/Johnson/Saric/Craig vs Portis/Teague/Forbes/T.Antetokounmpo - I think we win the bench battle easily. Bucks have pretty poor depth outside of their top 5-6 guys. We go 8-9 deep with guys you can actually play in a playoff game.
I really feel like this is a 4 or 5 game series. Am I looking at it wrong? Am I overconfident?
You’re right, but I don’t know if I like it. It seemed to help him get in a rhythm in Brooklyn.Superbone wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 3:05 pmSpeaking of counting on things, you KNOW our crowd will be doing the ol' Atlanta Quick Count while Giannis is shooting FTs.JeremyG wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 2:46 pmGiannis shot 84% from the free throw line in those games, though. So that gave them some extra points. I wouldn't count on that happening again.Superbone wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 1:29 pmLet's hope for a repeat! Can you imagine a dominant 4 game Finals sweep for our Suns?! I can. (But not counting on it. I could also see a grueling 7 game series depending on Giannis' health. I mean we won 2 games by 1 point each this season against them. Seems pretty evenly matched.)Cap wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 1:19 pmLast time we played a former team of Craig, it went very well.Superbone wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 1:17 pmSo, they have Tucker who used to be a Sun and we have Craig who used to be a Buck. This will be interesting to see how it develops. The Suns let Tucker go when we were bad and did him a favor. I think Craig has a much bigger revenge factor due to the Bucks letting him go for cash considerations in order to pick up Tucker.
No
Who wins and in how many games?
Uggetti: Suns in seven and Jake from State Farm gets a shout-out during Chris Paul’s MVP speech.
Sohi: Suns in four. Psych! Suns in six; seven if Giannis can be 90 percent. Mike Budenholzer has become a more malleable coach, but the Bucks still prefer to protect the paint over 3-pointers, mostly because that plan has largely worked. But the Suns are practically designed in a lab to beat this strategy, with multiple ball handlers who can beat drop coverages, punish switches, and stop short of the rim. Paul and Booker can smell it, and there’s a formula to victory that they can repeat over and over again.
Murdock: Suns in six.
Devine: Suns in six.
Dollinger: Bucks in seven. But if anyone bigger than me in a Phoenix jersey asks, Suns in four.
Kram: At full strength, these two teams are frighteningly even: Both regular-season meetings were decided by a single point. But the Bucks are not at full strength, and that unfortunate reflection of the 2020-21 postseason makes this pick easy. If Giannis plays, Suns in seven. If he doesn’t, Suns in five.
“PJ TUCKER HAS BEATEN.”
Murdock: Deandre Ayton. Entering the postseason, the 7-footer’s maligned defense raised questions about whether the Suns could even get past the first round. Since then, he’s contained Anthony Davis, pestered Nikola Jokic, and dominated the Clippers’ hobbled front line. He’s proved legit, but he’ll face perhaps his biggest test in Giannis.
He's shut down Giannis ever since he was a rookie.Uggetti: Deandre Ayton. I tried to think hard (but not too hard) about a more clever answer, but the reality is that whether Ayton continues to break out or wilts under the pressure of guarding Giannis and/or Brook Lopez will go a long way toward determining this series. Ayton has been awesome, and three months ago we wouldn’t have demanded this much from him, but it speaks to his growth that he’s now pivotal to the Suns’ chances.
Who is the biggest X factor in the Finals?
Dollinger: Scott Foster. Jrue Holiday is a hell of a defender, but something tells me Chris Paul is a lot more worried about his longtime archnemesis, Scott Foster, in this series. As CP3 noted earlier this postseason, he’s lost 11 straight playoff games that Foster has officiated. And that really doesn’t even do the rivalry—and maybe the bitterness toward one another—justice. The referee assignments haven’t been announced yet, but Foster’s career is arguably as decorated as Paul’s. This will be Foster’s 14th Finals compared to Paul’s first. I absolutely expect him to get the call. And I absolutely expect Chris Paul to get no calls.
The pick:
Purely from an accomplishment standpoint, the Bucks have the most to lose here. They had the best record in the league the previous two years, then fizzled in the playoffs. Coach Mike Budenholzer has been “fired” multiple times by social media, and he now goes against Monty Williams, a good tactician and motivator. Also, Giannis has those pair of MVP awards and no rings. This should be enough motivation by the Bucks to finally deliver, for the first time since 1971. Again, we are assuming Giannis will be 100 percent. Milwaukee is the better defensive team, brings the best player and the individual matchups are mainly in the Bucks’ favor. Bucks in six.