Time: 6:00 pm AZ (6:00 pm PT/9:00 pm ET)
Place: Phoenix Suns Arena, Phoenix, AZ
TV: ABC
The Phoenix Suns will play host to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night. The Suns and Bucks both entered the NBA as expansion teams to start the 1968-1969 season. The Suns called heads and lost the coin flip for the rights to Lew Alcindor, better known as Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The Milwaukee Bucks won their one and only NBA championship in 1971. This will be the Phoenix Suns third Finals appearance but they have yet to win an NBA championship.
Wondering what Giannis’ status is for that game. Given that he might have come back for game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals I think he will play game one. We should be prepared tho for him to be unproductive and then to swap mid game to feeding Lopez down low.
Ya Bone! You starting the first FINALS Game Day thread is perfect! You are the perfect Suns fan and deserve to be the guy. I have my new appropriate avatar. I have been sporting a new one for each new series in this magical season and wasn't about to stop now. We are all in now.
In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.
Ya Bone! You starting the first FINALS Game Day thread is perfect! You are the perfect Suns fan and deserve to be the guy. I have my new appropriate avatar. I have been sporting a new one for each new series in this magical season and wasn't about to stop now. We are all in now.
Thanks, man. Love the avatar. The Bucks stop here!
I’m going to rely on you guys for at least games 2 and 3 game day threads as I had an already scheduled Vegas trip planned starting Thursday. I’ll be back home for game 4. Besides, we had a great winning streak with new thread starters in the playoffs so far.
Let's go Suns! It would be great to set a tone early with a convincing win in Game 1. It's going to be so nerve-wracking this Finals series, and hopefully so much fun.
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?
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?
This isn’t a very competitive series without Giannis. But would it be without CP3? So that changes a lot. If you throw Giannis in there. Then they’re going to be able to guard us pretty well. But you’re right about the depth. Payne, Cam Johnson, Craig, Saric is way better than Forbes, Cannaughton, Portis, Teague. We’re going to have to win those minutes. Also, not a fan of the schedule. Too many days off in between. I haven’t cared about the finals in so long? Has it always been like this? Seems fishy to me. But I guess they’re accounting for the cross country travel.
Let's go Suns! It would be great to set a tone early with a convincing win in Game 1. It's going to be so nerve-wracking this Finals series, and hopefully so much fun.
Man...The Suns had better win Game 1 after I fly out there and already spent a small fortune on tickets! Nah, I feel good about it. I can't wait to be awash in my fellow Suns fans at a fevered pitch!
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?
This isn’t a very competitive series without Giannis. But would it be without CP3? So that changes a lot. If you throw Giannis in there. Then they’re going to be able to guard us pretty well. But you’re right about the depth. Payne, Cam Johnson, Craig, Saric is way better than Forbes, Cannaughton, Portis, Teague. We’re going to have to win those minutes. Also, not a fan of the schedule. Too many days off in between. I haven’t cared about the finals in so long? Has it always been like this? Seems fishy to me. But I guess they’re accounting for the cross country travel.
Yes, they've always stretched out the Finals. I'm just glad they got rid of the 2-3-2 format.
I do not think the Bucks are better than the team the Suns just dispatched, Clippers play defense better, have a much better coach, and they play much more aggressively. I know anything can happen, but I just don't see how the Suns don't the Bucks fairly easily, especially if Giannis is out.
Complete speculation, but I think Giannis will be out for game one and the Bucks will try to spread the floor offensively like they did against the Hawks.
I'm honestly a bit more worried about the Bucks without Giannis because they have two games of momentum without him, and if/when he does come back, there will be an adjustment period for them offensively.
My gut is telling me Giannis is out for game one. If the Suns win game one convincingly, he'll play in game 2. If game one is a close Suns win or a Bucks win, he'll sit out game 2.
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