2021 NBA Finals: Phoenix Suns vs Milwaukee Bucks

Going Suns in 6

suns 5

Bucks in 6, it's gotten us this far

after u vote in this, vote here:
It's the 4th Annual I Love Hoops NBA Role Player Hollafame - VOTING & CAMPAIGNING THREAD (voting closes FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2021, 11:59 PM CST)

i voted suns in 6, cp3 wins finals mvp

ilx in not believing in khris middleton shockah

what’s gianiss’ status broadly?

when i googled that this morning i read that he is expected to come back, maybe as early as game 1, but that's unknown

suns are favored prob mostly cause of uncertainty over giannis sitch

i voted suns in 6, cp3 wins finals mvp

― class project pat (m bison), Monday, July 5, 2021 2:20 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is also my vote

I think it’ll be a good series. I’m looking forward to it!

i am happy w whoever wins, i just hope everyone has a good time!!

i have voted suns in 6 too

Giannis (at less than 100%) going to the rim against Ayton who's having a stupendous playoffs should be fun. I tilt toward the Suns in 6. They have more of the Team of Destiny vibe atm.

suns 7

suns had an easier trot to the finals with much stiffer competition and are less beat up is how i see it

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Suns in 5 if no giannis. Bucks in 7 if giannis plays and is at least ~85%

Aw I meant for this to close tomorrow

no jokesters in ilh

finals is serious biz

fwiw both Bucks/Suns regular season games were incredible, even though the Bucks lost them both (by 1 point apiece). was actually hoping for this from the get go so

Vegas has this as Suns -200/Bucks +170 which I think is probably about right....if this was a 1st round series I'd put 'em about even but the Bucks best player may be hobbled/out, they're down a starter, and they took a much more stressful road to the Finals. plus the Suns have played nearly perfectly the whole way while Milwaukee has been really hot and cold. I would think a team like Phoenix with a good head coach and one of the smartest players in the league would know how to exploit them. otoh if Giannis is out there idk how they'd defend a lineup with him and Lopez. should be a great series, I voted Bucks in 6 because I always do no matter what but it'll be a real battle for them

I think the bucks were my favorite team in the eastern conference playoffs. but now I hope they lose. cool to have such a new and unpredictable finals matchup

yeah this is a cool matchup, mostly homegrown teams with interesting and fun players, chance for both giannis and cp3 to get over the hump, neither team has been to the finals for a long time

tbh i dont actually find the bucks players to be fun but thats ok they have other good qualities

this series has some really interesting matchups that should be fun to track--lopez/ayton, holiday/booker, bridges/whichever buck he ends up guarding. there's no reason for the bucks to try their switching defense at least initially so ayton needs to hold his own or better against lopez and make sure brook is somewhat neutralized as a rim protector. another thing that's interesting is pj tucker does not really have anything useful to do in this series, and bobby portis will probably have to go back to spot minutes.

basically i don't see a ton of matchup advantages for the bucks and the suns should more or less be able to play their game on offense. there are ways you can talk yourself into the bucks having the talent advantage but i have no reason to think their best 3 guys will put together enough good performances to win the series. i'm going to say suns in 7 because i think most of these games will be close and competitive.

wonder if we might see some ayton on giannis

i think more likely crowder draws that assignment to better cut off driving lanes wd be my guess, otherwise youve got crowder on lopez which could be problems but idk

my other guess is tucker gets the "guard book" assignment so that middleton is more focused on buckets

i guess "who guard giannis" is an interesting question--my thought was bridges would get first crack but i didn't see the two regular season games.

i think booker would slice tucker up but maybe the thought would be just be a brick wall and turn him into a jump shooter and make their offense more stagnant.

Honestly you should have Connaughton on Booker a lot. He’s not the world’s greatest defender but those other guys just are too slow and big.

yeah i agree with that, would try him first over pj

So I looked back at the ILH predictions from 2012 onward & tallied the votes for each team. Track record is about 5 right / 4 wrong so far.

2012: Thunder 19 - 5 (wrong)
2013: Spurs 13 - 9 (wrong)
2014: Spurs 24 - 10 (right)
2015: GSW 27 - 9 (right)
2016: GSW 25 - 5 (wrong)
2017: GSW 12 - 8 (right)
2018: GSW 18 - 3 (right)
2019: GSW 21 - 5 (wrong)
2020: Lakers 17 - 8 (right)

2021: Suns 13 - 7 ...

that 2012 prediction margin is crazy. we have collectively picked lebron to win a title...once, last year

lol why did we pick okc by so much, were we more mad at the heatles than usual?

we went 26-9 for the mavs in 2011, I appear to have been the idiot who picked heat in six

in other words we've never picked the eastern conference. even the presence of LeBron did not overcome that bias

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been upgraded from doubtful to questionable ahead of Bucks-Suns Game 1 of the NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/KhPLX70Dyu

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 6, 2021

hes gonna play isnt he

seems like

now a GTD

Reporting with @Malika_Andrews: Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo has continued around-the-clock treatment on his left knee with hopes of becoming cleared to play Game 1 of the Finals vs. Phoenix tonight. There’s expected to be a game-time decision on his availability.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2021

i didn't get a chance to vote but i think i would've gone suns in 7. i want to lean towards the bucks here, it just kinda feels like their year to me despite how bumpy the road has been, but it's hard to figure what giannis effectiveness is going to be and the suns prob have enough scoring between cp3 and booker to overcome that. i also think if this goes to 7 that the bucks are gonna have a struggle trying to win in phoenix in that kind of environment, i don't trust what they're going to get on offense

that said, i did think the suns showed signs of mortality vs the clippers. booker was pretty inefficient, bridges was blah. the bucks have legit size to throw at ayton. they can also have games where they shoot the lights out, which will stretch the suns pretty thin. crowder turned into a pumpkin in the finals last year after a huge playoffs. i think this is a very winnable series for the bucks even if giannis isn't healthy -- maybe more so if he doesn't play at all, we'll have to see what he gives them once he steps on the floor

now a GTD
🐦[Reporting with @Malika_Andrews🕸: Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo has continued around-the-clock treatment on his left knee with hopes of becoming cleared to play Game 1 of the Finals vs. Phoenix tonight. There’s expected to be a game-time decision on his availability.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2021🕸]🐦

whenever a player improves from "doubtful" to "questionable" on game day they pretty always wind up playing so I'd be surprised if he weren't out there. that said, centering your offense around Giannis at 80% feels like a surefire way to lose this game, especially since they seem to play so much better w/ Jrue as the primary ball handler. he isn't gonna be able to take on 3 defenders like he normally does and the Suns will be fouling him and pressuring him to shoot which is how the Bucks get themselves into a hole early in games. and if he's clearly hobbled I doubt Bud will take him out either. of course if they leave him near the paint for lob plays & use him mostly for his defense and ability in transition I think it'll be fine

we'll know in the first ten minutes what he can do and that should certainly start to answer a lot of questions for the series.

Watching the warmups, he’s gonna play

there it is

Giannis is a go for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 7, 2021

I just drop knowledge on ILH all the time

thanks matt, what would we do without you

incredible that the suns arena's naming rights are currently not spoken for

coach bud pregame: "compete compete compete. have some fun, play some basketball"

can't argue with any of that

Bucks in 6 here we go baby

incredible that the suns arena's naming rights are currently not spoken for

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 9:00 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it will always be talking stick resort hotel casino arena to me

sick tip by bridges

i genuinely did not think the bucks would come out switching on defense. this isn't going to work.

last two possessions have ended with holiday on ayton and lopez on booker. that does not seem ideal.

yeah was thinking the same

this game is pretty sweet, excellent shot of some pheonix bros just now

this game is pretty sweet, excellent shot of some pheonix bros just now

― lag∞n, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 9:31 PM (three seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah it’s like a college game, it’s fuckin sick

suns in 4

suns fanbase has been a sleeping giant for years, with a good team those people will watch some basketball and absolutely rage

Can’t get over how surreal it is seeing Milwaukee here

Really good game so far

Also surreal to see Badgers hero Frank the Tank Kaminsky getting finals minutes

yeah this has been great xp

suns having good luck getting lopez to switch onto the guards

not frank kaminsky getting finals minutes

suns having good luck getting lopez to switch onto the guards

― circles, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 9:49 PM (thirty-six seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

you can see booker's eyes doing the looney tunes saucers thing when he has lopez in an iso

trying to remember the last finals where one of the teams was not a team i was at least kinda pissed at and i'm not sure it's ever happened before!

lol

It is a surprisingly low bullshit finals

Lol at the inevitable “Knuck if you Buck” music cue

first warriors/cavs showdown is a maybe and lebron was on a redemption tour but those cavs teams were hard to love and there was def some latent THIS guy again stuff w/r/t lebron xp

wow giannis blew bridges the fuck up

so it seems like giannis is doing everything you would expect except for those balls to the wall drives to the rim. i have no idea what that means but it's interesting.

liking him playing physical on face ups rather than trying to euro around everything

Bucks having no luck at the rim, playing pretty well otherwise. Suns are just a great shooting team and they haven’t missed an open look yet

xpost yeah agreed. when he gets it down low he can do some easy moves to score. the one time i recall where he was really loading up above the break he shot the 3 rather than driving. they might be worried about those long strides into traffic.

Good game so far. Suns' 2nd quarter lead withstood every little Bucks scoring spurt and I can't recall their ever being behind, even if they couldn't ever stretch it to double digits.

CP3 has been middling poor this game. PJ Tucker is not the solid wall he used to be. otoh, Suns defense looks really sharp.

Fwiw I didn’t think Lopez’s defense was that bad, he contested every shot pretty closely

yeah, he hasn't looked terrible, but paul and booker are hitting their shots

Ok that was pretty bad

these super hidef shallow depth of field shots theyve been mixing in kind of freak me out

yeah not sure i'm comfortable with the introduction of the golfcam (i first noticed it on golf telecasts)

they make me think i'm watchying 2k cutscenes every time

lol

Suns 13-13
Bucks 2-6

seems bad

also seems bad that every single player on the Suns is playing amazing while the Bucks are still waiting for Middleton to make an open shot or Holiday to do anything at all

the bros are back

suns are getting to all their favorite looks now

Ha missed bros 1st time but assumed that was them

that was the bros!

yea Suns are just unstoppable when they execute like this

need a bros gif asap

there should be a bros inscreen live cam

crisp all

Cp cookin

chris!!!

ok I'm starting to think this is a pretty bad matchup for Milwaukee

Why is he always getting his hands injured caught on jerseys and such

MIL 2-6
PHX 19-19

deer district dire

lol if my kid hadn't gotten sick I would be there

there will be closer games than this (and this is not over at all), but i'm feeling good about my take that there aren't really any obvious matchup advantages for the bucks.

another trend that i'm watching is which guys can just get hot. i think from the bucks side only middleton has a chance of getting hot and carrying them on offense for a couple minutes. he may actually be doing it now but it's probably too late.

I’m into these phx bros. Wholesome bros just excited to #RalleyTheValley

middleton has hit like four really difficult out-of-rhythm 3s and it’s the only reason the bucks aren’t down by 30 right now

there will be closer games than this (and this is not over at all), but i'm feeling good about my take that there aren't really any obvious matchup advantages for the bucks.

another trend that i'm watching is which guys can just get hot. i think from the bucks side only middleton has a chance of getting hot and carrying them on offense for a couple minutes. he may actually be doing it now but it's probably too late.

It's a good take, cad. When both teams are playing well I think phx wins. It's possible mil figures them out enough to get a few w's but 4 seems unlikely.

MIL 2-6
PHX 19-19

― frogbs, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 10:49 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm sure this is painful. both of these teams are low FT rate iirc and the bucks especially so if giannis is limited (while on the other side booker has been seeking contact all game). but i think the officiating has been ok.

CP killing Portis here

bucks have to adjust and slow it down and not play the game the suns want to play, phoenix is just getting everything they want

Phx loves to play slow tho

true, could be that whatever pace favors phoenix, but they're getting a lot of pretty quick shots tonight! but it's true that they're pretty dribbly

i think the difference is that phx playing slow means they run things they are super comfortable with while the bucks don't seem to have a go-to halfcourt offense that works

I'd take cp3 in a half court game vs just about anyone

And Booker

yeah suns can do so much out of the pick and roll

crowder way off tonight

Dude is all or nothing

I thought I was being harsh for thinking he hadn't scored but nope 0-8

Bucks are at least running some nice plays out of timeouts

brooooos

Lol vintage cp foul f that guy tho

oh my god CP3

sick play by cp

Yah and the suns are doing the thing where they’re all playing well again and the bucks just never seem to get their best from their best at the same time

Jrue has definitely been better than Bledsoe was but they are just not gonna win if he plays like this

bledsoe i got but i'm pretty unclear on the conditions under which jrue plays well

he plays pretty good when Giannis is out

Jrues inconsistent shooting has def hurt them in these playoffs

i feel ridiculous piling on the overall ayton praise but he was perfect tonight, he plays such a smart and in control game, i'm a huge fan of what he's doing.

Omg don't miss ft

Yah Ayton is shooting like 70% + in the playoffs. Doing everything within the flow and offense and rebounding like crazy.

that was a bummer but I'm not too discouraged yet, Bucks lost the previous two Game 1s and actually managed to make it somewhat close in the 4th despite the Suns playing pretty much perfectly. plus Giannis actually looked pretty good, didn't seem hobbled at all really.

Budenholzer definitely has his hands full, they're not defending the pick n' roll well and seem helpless vs. teams that can actually use them to make midrange shots. also they have more than one player to worry about which makes this a bit different than the last two series

btw I ain't gonna complain about the officiating but it's nuts Middleton didn't get a single FT, dude was taking a ton of contact

the bucks being +15 from three on 44% shooting and losing by 13 doesn't feel like a great omen.

you have to assume the free throw disparity will equalize especially when the bucks go home but the suns don't foul a lot & aside from giannis the bucks don't have anyone who is gonna pound the FT line. middleton having zero FTs is an anomaly but he's also only averaging 4 FT per game in the playoffs. tucker, brook, jrue are not gonna shoot a lot of FTs. the bucks have won a lot of games in this postseason by getting a lot of extra points outside the normal flow of their offense and idk if the suns are gonna let a lot of that happen.

the bucks role players also played pretty well, getting 6-11 from three from portis, teague, connaughton & forbes is an A-level game from that group. i could see them having some bigger games at home but that might be the best they provide on the road in this series.

there weren't any peripheral factors that slanted against the bucks aside from free throws, a lot of what the suns did in this one feels repeatable to me. i think what it comes down to for the bucks is if they have more games where they're only getting 30 combined points from giannis and jrue it's going to be a tough hill for them to climb

Giannis was +1 in his 35 minutes so that's kind of a good sign. obviously it sucks to have them finally hit some 3s and still get crushed, but on the other hand CP3 ain't shooting 63% every game. ultimately the Suns just seem to have a gear that the Bucks don't. as Spottie mentioned they rarely have a game where their big 3 are all playing well at the same time. instead it's usually "Giannis was good but missed a lot of FTs, Middleton got hot for 5 minutes, Jrue mostly sucked" and that ain't enough to win against a team that pretty much plays perfectly. who knows, maybe the Suns will cool off, maybe Bud will figure something out, it's a long series but yeah that felt like a total blowout even if it wasn't on the scoreboard

suns have edges up and down the roster. think the refs missed calls when khris and giannis were getting hit, but it's hard for the bucks when the suns can put giannis on the line instead of letting him shoot every time he attacked in the 4th. really takes the momentum out of a comeback

bucks should fire Bud and hire Ty Lue to make adjustments before the start of the next game

ayton is gonna be a real force in the league

he's so good at winning rebounding battles

divincenzo is a big loss for the bucks in this matchup

Jrue has definitely been better than Bledsoe was but they are just not gonna win if he plays like this

― frogbs, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 11:18 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

bledsoe i got but i'm pretty unclear on the conditions under which jrue plays well

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 11:20 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he plays pretty good when Giannis is out

― frogbs, Tuesday, July 6, 2021 11:22 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Jrues inconsistent shooting has def hurt them in these playoffs

― pure rim rest (Spottie), Tuesday, July 6, 2021 11:25 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

they gave up a ton for jrue and he has definitively not delivered

can they still fire bud if the bucks lose this, maybe hed do better under a different regime

maybe he could coach football

serious question though if they do fire Bud which better coaches are out there? like I would've loved Carlisle had they lost to the Nets but now that he's off the table the only one I can think of is maybe D'Antoni

they gave up a ton for jrue and he has definitively not delivered

― lag∞n, Wednesday, July 7, 2021 7:06 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

his shot has been off but I'm pretty sure they would've been hopeless vs. Brooklyn without him. he's played pretty good defense at least.

the bucks D has been great the whole offs and im sure jrue is a big part of that but for 3 1sts and a max deal you need more than a defensive specialist, and its not just his shooting thats been bad he really just has not been a factor on offense, looks like any other guy out there really

i definitely see that but i can't shake the feeling that it's a system thing, with the thread running through Bledsoe and now Jrue. something about the way Bud uses his PGs, or maybe it has to do with how much of the ball and the focus Giannis sucks up, idk

it could def be a system thing i mean jrue has been a very good player hos whole career

he's a very good player but he's never been a set it and forget it lead ballhandler where you would just give him all the touches and say ok my offense is going to be solid.

i do think if the bucks played with more continuity on offense they could clean up some of his poor decisionmaking.

it would be funny if the bucks won the finals and still fired bud

which they should probably do

that would be such a galaxy brain move, I would love it

that said seeing Jason Kidd land a fairly coveted HC job does not fill me with confidence that there is a viable upgrade out there

I want to believe that the switching on defense is the problem and the Bucks will recognize this and fix it but some part of me feels the problem lies deeper

Chris Paul has scored 30+ in back-to-back playoff games

The only other players in NBA history to do that in their 15th season in the league or later are Kareem, Kobe, and LeBron pic.twitter.com/za3euacJdx

— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) July 7, 2021

cp got that kobe

if the bucks win this series the jrue trade will forever be gravy. if they don't, it will/should be scrutinized heavily. not sure this makes sense but it's how it is

i do think it's true that they don't win the nets series w/ bledsoe at PG. however, their choice wasn't binary: either bledsoe, or trading every pick under the sun for jrue holiday. was there another move they could've made to upgrade at PG while conserving more assets? again if they win it doesn't matter but if they lose and it feels like they need more improvements, then their lack of trade flexibility becomes a real problem.

it does feel like this is like a scientifically engineered series to put jrue under the microscope, given that the suns have two all star level scoring guards mean jrue's presence is required on defense every night, and w/ giannis somewhat hobbled he needs to carry an offensive load as well

There’s plenty to criticize but he had some big moments in the Brooklyn series and they prob don’t beat Atlanta (once giannis went down) without him.

if they had traded half the assets it took to get jrue for kyle lowry and signed him to an extension that was for 60% of the money would they be better off? these questions only matter if this series goes one way

think theyre probably going to need jrue to play good to win

this kinda reminds me of mike miller on the heatles, if he has one huge game and they win the finals all other sins are forgotten

this was a cool play

Had to break the thread to give a quick shoutout to the Suns for being such a high IQ (High-Q?) club.

This possession was a great example of PHX taking what MIL wants to accomplish, and flipping it on its head.

🗣️SOUND ON pic.twitter.com/P7I102T5cC

— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) July 7, 2021

Lowry is 4 years older and may not be in the league in a couple years. the reason why the Jrue trade made sense is because Milwaukee felt this core could compete for the next few years. Losing in the Finals isn't necessarily proof that their plan didn't work out.

i definitely see that but i can't shake the feeling that it's a system thing, with the thread running through Bledsoe and now Jrue. something about the way Bud uses his PGs, or maybe it has to do with how much of the ball and the focus Giannis sucks up, idk

that's kind of my feeling on it. both players did well in the regular season but whatever he's doing with his PGs w/ Giannis on the floor is definitely something that can be schemed against.

Was impressed by Johnson knowing to flash to the middle there

i love solid fundamentals

Watch Cam Payne. pic.twitter.com/Z1yRGackc5

— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) July 7, 2021

i noticed that live. fantastic little-guy box out.

really like payne
he brings the payne

rip

Suns forward Dario Saric has a torn ACL in his right knee.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 7, 2021

he looked pained last night

poor dario :(

my kids report that the only buck they like is divincenzo

although they liked lopez better even he had hair “with leaves in it”

they are happy for cp3

they say ayton is underrated

i take everything they say on faith obv

sorry lopez better WHEN he had hair with leaves in it

i wonder how different Brook and Robin Lopez's personalities are in real life. Their bball personas are very different

pretty crazy to compare the visual of giannis knee injury to darios and then compare the difference in destruction. darios looked like like a slight tweak at worst.

i wonder how different Brook and Robin Lopez's personalities are in real life. Their bball personas are very different

cat persons, so to speak

bropez looks like a dude who would walk a fleet of hairless sphynxes on leashes in public
i say that with love

lol

his eyes remind me of a friend of a friend for whom i was present to help shepherd through a bad trip, never to see again

it was fun having them both on the team, they're legit funny dudes

each of lopez' shoulders is bigger than my entire ass

bropez's funky trot across half court after a shot tho

wasn't there some guy on tiktok who nailed that?

oh here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQMKAKIe6g0

#winitfordario should be trending by tonight

giannis coast2coast

he does not look injured

two dunks and a block in the first two mins

congratulations to the bucks for completely changing their defense to start this game

three dunks

Jrue a chucker lol

suns staying in this with the three point shot

If not for the 3 ball they’d be down 25 right now

one two-point basket in the quarter

Bucks game plan seems sound so far

crazy 1st quarter

Yah jrue on cp is good

Holiday having yet another poor shooting night

Forcing it

This is definitely a team you wanna give second chances to

rough lol

D-Book had Teague needing a map pic.twitter.com/Ws2DGbD37l

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 9, 2021

Book and jrue combined 5/22

If the hoop were an inch bigger Milwaukee would have like 20 more points

the bros are back

Bucks big three are really just incapable of playing well on the same night

wow very weird, i'm a bit behind and clicked on the booker highlight a few posts ago and the audio was like half a second ahead of the audio on my tv, i'm spooked

wow what an amazing possession

Jesus fucking Christ

Awesome

The beautiful game

some kind of weird alchemy is making this series incredibly entertaining. i don't fully understand it yet.

the alchemy is two teams that don’t commit fouls

Bucks have just done so much wrong

and yet giannis is balling to keep them in it

Giannis takeover til his teammates can catch up

How do you beat a team shooting like this

Would help if your 2nd and 3rd best players could make easy shots

you have to shoot as good as they do or you lose

xp

calling giannis a "great american success story" seems a bit off

tired: america is a nation of immigrants
wired: america is the only nation with immigrants

suns are really good at running plays maybe the best weve seen in the finals since the last spurs chip

i was just gonna say this is the most fun team since the 2014 spurs, also an incredibly balanced team

2014 nba finals mvp Passing is back

yeah it's crazy how they've been together in this form for a season and they're like this super high level execution team

I know everyone hated the warriors run but those boys moved the ball.

former spur monty williams babyyyy

This game should be closer it’s a real shame Giannis has no help tonight

i didn't hate the warriors but they were much more about individual excellence than the beautiful game imo

warriors ran a motion offense with a lot of passing but the suns are killing people with like correct reads out of the pick and roll

They led the league in assists every season and Kerr hates iso and pnr

i'm still blown away that giannis is moving like nothing happened and his knee didn't astrally project into the oort cloud a week ago

xp they've made so many good baseline passes to corners tonight alone, like if you see one or two of those in a game you're pretty happy

They led the league in assists every season and Kerr hates iso and pnr

― pure rim rest (Spottie), Thursday, July 8, 2021 10:55 PM (nineteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm sorry, i don't know what to tell you, all this is true but it was not the beautiful game

Their have been lots of spursy plays tonight for sure tho

the warriors played the best offense you could basically ever play but it feels like cheating to even being them up

cad and goon otm

They led the league in assists every season and Kerr hates iso and pnr

― pure rim rest (Spottie), Thursday, July 8, 2021 10:55 PM (nineteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm sorry, i don't know what to tell you, all this is true but it was not the beautiful game

well of course! nothing wrong with that.

the warriors played the best offense you could basically ever play but it feels like cheating to even being them up

this is revisionist history

i do not like this torrey craig injury btw

torrey craigs knee rip

Yah that looked bad

giannis hit him in the leg full speed and his knee went sideways

i’m not sure it would have been meaningfully different if torrey craig had been hit by a sedan going 25 mph

he was providing some nice bench minutes for the suns

Suns getting thin without Dario and Craig

yeah he has the size/strength to matchup with giannis

the suns are basically down 7 players, with only one player over 6-8. i have no idea if they even bother playing kaminsky

down to 7 players*

This game is really good

booker just hit the jayson tatum sidestep special

Jfc how many contested threes can they hit

Giannis sits for 30 seconds and everything goes to crap

demar does that from 2 as well, gotta be a kobe acolyte thing xp

it's an incredible shot if you can make it

yeah obvs other guys take sidesteps that one just looked exactly like tatums

That ex semi pro does that shot allll the time. Saw him teaching it to kids he tutors last week. He's got a Kobe tattoo.

Ex semi pro I hoop with

Jfc how many contested threes can they hit

the bucks have had a game where they shoot like 16-32 from three in every series. they’ll prob have one in this series. well they better anyway

i'm going to gently success the suns get it to booker who is screaming hot right now

Pat gotta let that one fly

*suggest

Pat gotta let that one fly

Ugggh they are so close

Haven’t even noticed Middleton on the court tonight

it's perverse how much booker loves to make shots

Feel like every single offensive rebound or defensive miscue has led to a Suns 3

Or 2

cp3 has been awful down the stretch, teammates really bailing him out

Bridges headed for role player HOF if he keeps this up

Otm

thats a uh pretty good percentage

The Bucks foundational defense has always struggled to defend the 3pt shot. In this series, the Suns are shooting 31/54 (57%) from behind the arc.
The Bucks are 25/67 (37%).
If that advantage holds, there’s no way the Bucks can come back.

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) July 9, 2021

at this point to me it feels like the first team to win a road game is going to win the series. if the suns take one of the next two i think it’s over

personally i think it will come back to phoenix 2-2. the suns have been playing well but these both felt like home arena aided wins to me. i think we’ll see the script flip in the next 2 games and the bucks will have to figure out a way to pull out a win in game 5

yeah i agree with that although i'm tracking suns depth erosion vs. every time giannis clutches his knee

bucks could def win two but they could also only win one...

they could win zero

definition of a curse

Eric Bledsoe playoff shooting splits with the Bucks:
— 41.1 FG%
— 25.4 3P%
— 73.2 FT%

Jrue Holiday playoff shooting splits with the Bucks:
— 41.1 FG%
— 28.9 3P%
— 67.3 FT% pic.twitter.com/1PRn67M4k2

— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 9, 2021

lol got xped trying to post that

they could win zero

― ciderpress, Thursday, July 8, 2021 11:44 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

its true

Oooof

bucks were pretty close to this one being more or less tied going into the final few minutes

they’re gonna have to figure out how to punish the suns for losing, essentially, their back up bigs or else the suns will prob look great playing small. they need to re-find the brook lopez of the final few games of the hawks series

Congratulations Torrey Craig for winning his first championship!

No matter who wins the Finals, he will get a ring for playing for both the Suns and Bucks this season.

(Submitted by @wholecake3) pic.twitter.com/ChpLWKH8es

— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 4, 2021

Don't know if we've talked about this but it's kind of wild when you put it this way

that happened with varejao a few years ago

ah you're right, not sure if i ever put that together. if the bucks were to go on and win this series, i imagine it would be an odd emotional experience for craig to receive that ring.

players not on the playoff roster dont automatically get a ring the team deicides iirc

varejao turned down the ring tho, good look

if the bucks end up winning and it seems due in some part to craig’s absence he should get one tho lol

Have to say Denver’s moves this year haven’t worked. Shoulda kept craig, shoulda stuck with Gary and RJ

i think that’s too soon to say, gotta wait and see when murray comes back

def shoulda kept craig, but hindsight is 20/20 on the latter move, if jamal hadn't gotten hurt then it was the right trade

idk aaron gordon is not looking like a playoff guy based on the info we have

hmm why are we talking about the denver nuggets in the NBA finals thread…

jk… gordon will be a great litmus test for whether you not ever being very good on the orlando magic is an orlando magic problem or a you problem

i think on the one hand it’s valid to point out his role changed when murray got hurt, on the other it’s not a great look when the argument for a guy you essentially gave up multiple firsts for is “he would look a lot better if he had to do a lot less”

you’ve got a point

He needed to play better in that role, period.

yeah, theres still some hope for him tho

He delivered on defense that’s for sure. That’s why they did it, they knew winning a title was possible but they needed another frontcourt defender who could fill the dunker spot.

A lot of the Nuggets problems flow from going with Millsap instead of Gallinari tbh

An MRI on the right knee of Suns F Torrey Craig revealed no structural damage, source tells ESPN. Craig injured knee in Game 2 on Thursday. His status on a return is day to day.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 9, 2021

giannis gave torrey craig a knee injury with no structural damage via osmosis

lol

haaa love to see it

game 3 tonight. the pressure is on.

has scott foster been announced yet

yes (seriously)

Bucks by 20

well shit

ayton is always getting his hands on rebounds tipping them and so forth

its 2021 and the big bois are back

nice to see

thanasis antentekounpo and jeff teague sharing the floor at the same time is the good stuff

Bucks are playing as though they don’t trust anyone but Giannis to make a shot

Portis and Forbes just passed up wide open looks, idk if you can win like this

Apologies for doomposting but this feels like the moment where the Suns go on a 12-2 run and never looo back

yeah, bucks look absolutely shook. they need elimination game urgency and theyre pounding it into giannis hoping he'll rescue them.

its weird how the bucks made the finals and i still feel like firing bud and/or trading jrue/khris is probable in a month

yeah they have absolutely stumbled to the finals if thats possible

tuned in just in time to hear van gundy do a full blown no reservations defense of a coach rant

Ok that was absurd. Cool result but why didn’t Jrue shoot that. Even Giannis would’ve shot that.

this feels like the moment where the Suns go on a 12-2 run and never looo back

― frogbs, Sunday, July 11, 2021 8:49 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

someone went on a 12-2 run

Hahahah my jinx worked!!!!!!

Finally the Suns are the ones who look out of sync

Not so easy when you shoot 20% from 3 now is it !??!!

God damn that ruled

Is it possible that bending Giannis’s knee backwards made him stronger

The Bucks had 22 points in the paint alone in the 2nd quarter; that's tied for the most in any quarter of an NBA Finals game over the last 25 years.

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) July 12, 2021

Giannis has shot around 80% of the Bucks’ free throws this series…is that a record

seems very high

cam johnson did a cool dunk

if that’s overturned I’m never watching basketball again

same

Well this lead is shrinking fast

cam johnson as smallball center is working like gangbusters, monty williams is a fuckin genius

cam j is balling

As called on FRENCH TV: pic.twitter.com/7Yy6EEscFk

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) July 12, 2021

seems safe to say that jrue is a lot better than bledsoe lol

This small ball lineup exposes pretty much all of Milwaukee’s defensive weaknesses

Yeeeeeeeeee haaaaaawwww

which giannis basically single-handedly covers

xp

t/f: the bucks sans giannis are not a playoff team in the east

false

how do i unhear mark jackson saying "this just in: the freaks come out at night"

t/f: the bucks sans giannis are not a playoff team in the east

― class project pat (m bison), Sunday, July 11, 2021 10:00 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

borderline

they’d def at least make the play-in

you could say the bucks closed that quarter out well

pacers aaaalmost made the playoffs with half a roster, jrue-donte-kris-bobby-brook would be fine

lmao why is the deer district a rave

suns offense breaking down

late stage capitalist rust belt postneoliberal despair babyyyyy

xp

Lol knew Portis was gonna get T’d up at some point

Spottie called it

giannis having a monster series

yeah we are now back in "what can you possibly do to stop giannis" territory

Shaq in 2000
LeBron in 2016
Giannis in 2021.

That's it. That's the list of back-to-back 40-point games in the NBA Finals ever. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/B0GyFZaWFQ

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 12, 2021

This might be the single best game I’ve seen him play. He’s cleaned up so many mistakes

it's been a masterpiece

Like seriously both teams are shooting roughly the same percentage this entire lead is him grabbing rebounds and forcing fouls

why are jrue and middleton still out there

punishment

why are jrue and middleton still out there

no coach wants to pull starters and then be forced to put them back in a must-win nba finals game. they're insurance against any possible comeback.

Holiday shot over 50% and had he not gotten hot in the 3rd the Suns might've tied it up. they finally got what they paid for in this series

Giannis now has more 40-point Finals games than Kobe

just making history out there

Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo combined for 41 points in Game 3, the most by a pair of brothers in NBA Finals history.

Family. pic.twitter.com/e2dHDz9xl9

— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 12, 2021

lol

if giannis had played like this every game...hitting free throws and looking to pass makes him unstoppable

also rolling/relocating after the pass

Bucks by 20

― pure rim rest (Spottie), Sunday, July 11, 2021 3:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

wow well done

Spotstradamus

"Shaq in 2000
LeBron in 2016
Giannis in 2021.

That's it. That's the list of back-to-back 40-point games in the NBA Finals ever. 🔥"

Uhhhhh. MJ had 4 games of 40+ in a row in '93 Finals

1) where was bridges
2) suns might've been better served if booker just stayed at the hotel in an ice bath
3) kaminsky is so glaringly worse than everyone else on the court, it's a little embarrassing
4) hard to imagine that giannis can play at this level for another 3 to 5 games and hard to imagine the bucks winning this season if he doesn't.

that's right, it's an eight game series; i said it

if it ends up 4-4 everyone just shakes hands and goes home

the always awkward "i thought we won" game 8

this sounds like an I Think You Should Leave s3 sketch idea

Ayton racking up fouls early changed the entire game; it forced the Suns to go small which actually worked pretty well offensively for a while, but it also meant Giannis could grab unlimited rebounds and had to be fouled in the paint every time. Like yeah he played awesome but he was also up against dudes who were like 6 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than him. Kaminsky had to go in just to give them some size which made things even worse.

Feel like the Bucks can still win even if Giannis doesn't go supernova every game - Middleton usually takes over one game a series and the Suns can go cold from 3. Wouldn't bet on it but this was exactly the sort of victory they needed. Suns actually shot a higher percentage than Milwaukee, Bucks were just grabbing a ton of rebounds & getting fouled

when giannis makes his rebounds and is playing that aggressively, he's basically unstoppable
i continue to wonder how long he can play at this level without aggravating his knee tho
wonder why he asked out in the first quarter for a breather, that was odd

Uhhhhh. MJ had 4 games of 40+ in a row in '93 Finals

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, July 12, 2021 11:26 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

the graphic said 40-10 but then the tweet just said 40, prob why they deleted it

Ah gotcha

Giannis is the most specifically effective superstar we’ve had in a long time. Some people compare him to shaq but Shaq was such a diverse post scorer relatively. In a weird way he reminds me of David Robinson.

Bucks by 20

― pure rim rest (Spottie), Sunday, July 11, 2021 3:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

wow well done

― frogbs, Monday, July 12, 2021 6:37 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Spotstradamus

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, July 12, 2021 6:47 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

even a blind squirrel etc etc

folks the suns look Ready

Jrue missed like 3 layups already

Some gross shooting so far

Feels like they should be down 12

CP turnovers becoming a problem

got to say 4 games in and i truly and deeply despise the 8k camera

I love it whole heartedly

booker slaying in the mid range

booker is so good

Did you guys see that obvious pass Jrue didn’t make for some reason? What was that?

Bucks 2/15 on threes jfc

tie ballgame baby

cp and jrue both playing like shit lol

booker as new model normie kobe is very weird for me

normal kobel

lol jvg is salty about giannis's free throw routine

yeah, last couple of booker shots very kobe-esque

i'm a little surprised that was not challenged. looked like the high-5 contact to me.

Gross stuff from Crowder

insane no call

wtf

heads up play by giannis

crowder and payne are very floppy xp

What the hell

woooah big 3

forgot what a close game was like, thrilling!

cp3 killed the suns down the stretch

chris paul just straight falling down at the most critical possession of a massive finals game is, like.......................

yeah cp3 has been pretty awful this half

looks like his whole body has run out of spring

his offensive possessions have gone turnover, hopeless layup attempt, turnover. he sucked in the same situations in game 2 and no one talked about it

booker whining to the refs my god dude

amazing play

GIANNIS pic.twitter.com/fPlOGspeov

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) July 15, 2021

Chris Paul's 15 turnovers over the last three games are his most in a three-game stretch in the playoffs since 2012.

— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) July 15, 2021

I am very excited right now.

haha man this mke crowd is off the hook

They have not shown a replay of the play of the game

say more, matt

man wisconsin is ready to burn itself down already that rules

ty espn

Refs ignore blatant Booker foul, Giannis gets the bucket as Bucks even series

we got a series baby

Giannis really hitting that Lebron level right now, it’s so much fun to see

t/s: giannis's block of ayton vs lebron's block of iguodala

Two games away from Budenholzer cementing his place in the hall of fame

I'm worried this is like 06 when DWade turned into the world's greatest player after going down 0-2

Giannis Antetokounmpo said he checked out early of both Games 3 and 4 to take a “tinkle.” He wanted to make sure that was a polite way to say it.

— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) July 15, 2021

They have not shown a replay of the play of the game

Chris Paul’s been bad since game 1 yah

The Point God when he can’t get a switch pic.twitter.com/GJw3p6JQHI

— The Anonymous Nobody (@el_budget) July 15, 2021

They never showed the block again during the broadcast did they?

They did not. I was yelling at the TV ... "why are they not showing us the block?!"

Someone on Twitter guessed that they were saving replays for the post-game interview. I don't buy that, really? But they did show two angles while interviewing Middleton.

also, I liked Bam's block on Tatum better than Giannis's's's block even though the latter was a more impressive defensive play.

still taking LeBron vs. Iggy over both of 'em, though.

It's pretty weird how poorly CP3 has been playing. Looks out of control and flummoxed ie the exact opposite of his usual MO

lebron’s block was essentially a championship-winning play. giannis’s was more athletic, but not really by much

It was total pandemonium at the bar I was at, pretty much the exact moment where everyone realized they could actually win despite being behind the entire game

Was actually planning to be in the Deer District but I cancelled bc it was supposed to rain. Damn!!!

have u been to the deer district yet, we need some first hand reportage

CP's worst game came at an awful bad time but I'm inclined to think he rebounds

hes having a tough time with the bucks D particularly jrue picking him up early, i think hes just getting beat up and worn down, suns should prob do something to get him off the ball more

yeah, he hasn't had to deal with this much pressure defense in some time i'm guessing. more of those late game possessions need to go through booker.

have u been to the deer district yet, we need some first hand reportage

― lag∞n, Thursday, July 15, 2021 10:19 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I went there twice these playoffs it’s amazing but you gotta pregame and hope you don’t have to tinkle too often. Also I lost my voice by the 3rd both times

The only downside of The Block is I feel like it took post-game coverage away from how great Middleton was (and how much the Bucks need Middleton to be great if they're gonna win this series)

Was shocked to see Middleton wind up with 40. It’s crazy how he seems to have the same game every time, ice cold in the first half then suddenly he hits like 6 in a row in the second then disappears again. Idk i guess it works for them

They need Holiday to have an average game offensively, he’s missing like 3 layups a game bc he just can’t get the roll and he’s not hitting threes either. Bucks seem to dominate every time he gets around 50%

suns offense was so iso heavy in game 4, totally relying on Book to hit covered jumpers

mamba mentality B-)

be legendary https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/kobe-bryant-game-7-stats

that field goal percentage is hilarious really

gotta go 7 for 19 in game 7s baby

muse cage, dark musings, mamba mentality

his make or miss pctg on his catchphrases was way better

https://static.fnac-static.com/multimedia/Images/PT/NR/4f/41/49/4800847/1540-0.jpg

cumulative score of milwaukee-phoenix through two regular season and four finals games:

bucks 693
suns 692

— alex (@steven_lebron) July 16, 2021

did not know book was mexican

New feature: I talked to people around Phoenix about the growing connection between the city’s large Latino community and Devin Booker, who has leaned into his heritage https://t.co/TB9KCdipC1

— Paolo Uggetti (@PaoloUggetti) July 16, 2021

yeah i had no idea. cool story that hopefully adds a whole new generation of suns fans.

and i hope they're all really excited when the suns beat the nets in 2022 for their first-ever title

hard to believe this is gonna be over soon, given the amount of stuff that's gone on in my life since everyone got vaccinated it feels like Round 1 was 7 months ago

four best-of-7 series is too much playoffs, that's hard to deny

and devin booker, kris middleton and jrue will need to save team USA like 3 days after this series inevitably goes 7 games

they should go back to bo5 for the first round

why are there two off days between all these games

apparently the MLB all-star game disrupted their normal schedule

(seriously, they didn't want to go against the all-star game)

it fucked me over b/c I told my Mom I could get her from the airport on Wednesday since I was sure G4 would be on Tuesday. wound up having to listen in the radio, Mom was telling me about her trip (like the actual plane ride, mostly) while I just kept hearing "Booker hits it again!" on the radio. dropped her off, ran as fast as possible to a bar across the street, Suns were up 5 w/ like 3:30 to go and you know the rest

your ass better be in that same bar tomorrow night

lol

i'm wearing the same bucks shirt i wore for g3 and g4 (but not for g1 and g2), all citizens of deer nation must do their part

My lucky deer shirt worked it’s magic during all 3 closeout games, sorry I can’t wear it yet

phone alert said "Antetokounmpo out for game 5, in health and safety protocols" and i was like HOLY NO but thanasis, someone might want to tell the headline copy guy about context

but *it's* thanasis

all the players in the finals getting covid is the only appropriate way for this season to end

Lmao the entirety of Bucks Twitter all freaked out about that

lol, wow

Excited for this NBA action

hard to believe there’s not something wrong with chris — he’s had more turnovers and deflections in the past few games than is ever usual for him

The embargo has existed for a very long time and doesn’t explain the hyperinflation problem Cuba is facing at the moment.

Haha wrong thread, allez Giannis!

love to see a lot of energy this far into things

Suns seem to know every bucks play

both of them

Suns shooting 85%

well that's going to fire up the home crowd

not sure what giannis was doing there exactly

you just don't see first quarter frustration fouls every day

you can't go up in the air anymore and prevent a guy from dunking. it's too dangerous.

this guy counting hundreds........................................

pure dirtbag energy

Suns D have us completely solved

def feels like phoenix is shooting about 200% from the floor

booker getting the ball poked away and just picking it up and hitting a fade away was pretty sick

holy shit bucks back

yeah that happened quick

with giannis on the bench too

All with Giannis out

Holiday finally showing up

Can’t make this up folks pic.twitter.com/WTDxK4yCBC

— coach couch (@idkhoops) July 18, 2021

what a sicko

this game is pretty nuts

Holiday with some pretty extreme mean reversion

man what is cp doing

Can some smart basketball person tell me what the hell Milwaukee changed after the 1st

they stopped playing jeff teague

Giannis is the main character

hard to lose when you're shooting 60% from the floor (n.b. it is also hard to lose shooting 54%)

i feel like giannis is now timing his shot to the crowd's "10"