As you all know, almost all of my blog entries have been written before their airdates, because writing something on the airdate is way too time-consuming for me. And of course, this entry is no different, as I decided to write something that’s fresh on my mind, with that something being the fact I have no choice but to say Suns in 7.
The stretch of Games 3 through 5 of the NBA Finals has been the most brutal one in the Phoenix Suns’ 2020-21 season, as they have lost those three games against the Milwaukee Bucks, thus having a storybook season possibly end in unsatisfying fashion. However, all is not lost because the Suns can correct what they did wrong in Game 5 to win the biggest game of their season on Tuesday night. The keys are listed via the bullet points below:
- No more small-ball line-ups with Torrey Craig and Jae Crowder as the two biggest players in the Suns’ line-up. Especially with Brook Lopez on the floor since the 13-year veteran out of Stanford has a significant size-advantage against both of those players. To counter this problem, give Frank Kaminsky some minutes to buy some time for Deandre Ayton, as the Suns’ best frontcourt player will be needed to combat any line-up with Giannis Antetokounmpo and/or any line-up with both Lopez and Antetokounmpo
- Play Devin Booker as much as possible, because that erased 16-point cushion happened with him on the bench. He would have at least helped stop that bleeding
- Tighten up the close outs, as the Bucks’ third quarter shooting came via some bad close out defense by the Suns. The Bucks’ Game 5 shooting was very similar to the Los Angeles Clippers’ shooting in Game 5 of this season’s Western Conference Finals
The second and third quarters were what lost Game 5 for the Suns, but I love the urgency that they played with in the fourth quarter. The Bucks were giving them every opportunity to win that game, so the Bucks were extremely lucky to win a game that they quite frankly didn’t deserve to win, as dumb Bucks basketball was rearing its unappealing head.
So what will happen in the next one (possibly two) game(s)? Well, I think the Bucks will have a very bad shooting game from the floor in Game 6 and will be hit with an angry Booker barrage in a blowout Suns victory to force a Game 7. And if that does happen, the Suns’ superstar backcourt of the aforementioned Booker and Chris Paul will both go off to deliver the Suns their first NBA championship in franchise history.