NBA Finals: Game 2 between Bucks-Suns explained in 5 plays

Explaining what transpired in Game 2 of the NBA Finals in five plays.

Entering Game 2 of the NBA Finals, the Milwaukee Bucks found themselves in a desperate search for answers. Having failed through most of Game 1 to hinder the offensive effort put forth by Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns, the Bucks entered Thursday night’s match intent on making the sort of adjustments most prognosticators believed were beyond them.

However, despite the lack of faith in Mike Budenholzer’s strategic prowess, Milwaukee did, in fact, prove capable of responding to the gut-punch the Suns’ guards delivered to them in the opening match, switching off between their typical “drop” defense and switch-heavy approach, while closing off the paint and generating trips to the charity stripe.

Unfortunately for the Bucks, for every leak they proved capable of closing, the ever deadly Phoenix offense proved just as adept at springing a new one.

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Though Chris Paul wasn’t able to snake his way through the Bucks defense with quite the same effectiveness as he did in Game 1, the Suns’ floor general was still able to deliver pinpoint passes to his teammates beyond the arc, sparking Phoenix to a 60-18 (!!) advantage from three.

While Deandre Ayton didn’t bully his way to the low post, the Suns’ Swiss Army Knife – otherwise known as Mikal Bridges – more than made up for the center’s quiet night, pitching in 27 points as he cut his way through the Bucks defensive unit.

All told, Phoenix earned a resounding 10-point victory that was startling only because the final tally appeared far closer than the rhythm of the game.

To help break it all down, let’s look at the five most important plays of Game 2 of the 2021 NBA Finals.

1.Mikal Bridges nails corner 3 – assist by Jae Crowder: 7:47 Left in the first quarter

The simple yet well-executed sequence is the perfect example of what makes the Phoenix offense so deadly.

Beginning with a high screen-and-roll between Ayton and Paul, that momentarily sprang the Suns guard loose from the trailing PJ Tucker, the Bucks initially did an excellent job of anticipating the potential drive from Paul by immediately moving Brook Lopez up to the top of the paint, and having Giannis Antetokounmpo shade over from his defensive assignment in the corner to show help.

Having repeatedly been burned by Paul throughout Game 1 on similar sets, the adjustment by Milwaukee to launch into rotations far quicker than they prefer to was a positive sign from a squad that is generally far too stubborn about changing their approach.

If only that had been the end of the sequence for the Bucks.

Firing a pass out to Crowder along the sideline to reset the sequence, Paul retook the ball at the top of the arc, lowering his stance and appearing ready to take Tucker off the dribble. With Jrue Holiday beginning to inch over towards Paul – to take away the possibility of him going left, and away from Giannis – Crowder immediately sprinted towards the middle of the floor as if to set a screen for Paul, before stopping for a brief moment, before darting into the heart of the lane.

While not appearing to be much, the moment’s hesitation served to freeze Giannis underneath – who had been expecting a drive from Paul – just long enough for Crowder to enter the lane unimpeded.

Already anticipating Crowder’s slip, Paul telegraphed a short pass to the forward, who promptly tossed the rock out to a waiting Bridges in the corner. Left unattended by Khris Middleton, who rotated over to meet Crowder at the rim, the third-year wing knocked down the wide-open shot, bringing the raucous Phoenix crowd alive and narrowing the deficit to one.

2. Jrue Holiday misses finger roll at the rim: 3:57 left in the first quarter

How quickly Jrue Holiday’s roaring start to Game 2 turned to ash.

After being held to 10 points, on 4-of-14 shooting – and a -16 in plus/minus – the Bucks point guard not only began Game 2’s match 2-for-2 but made clear he would be a force to be reckoned with no matter his shooting performance; picking up Paul fullcourt and hounding him all night.

The opening minutes of the game would be the high point for the guard, however, as Holiday continued his uneven postseason performance – and that’s putting it kindly, quite frankly – shooting 5-of-19 the rest of the way and managing a mere 17 points as he was repeatedly unable to finish near the rim, despite generating openings to do so.

With just under four minutes remaining in the opening quarter Thursday night, Holiday took the ball from Pat Connaughton as the Bucks point guard looked to force a switch onto Paul.

While CP3 has been a decent defender for most of the season – ranking in the 70th percentile according to tracking data from Synergy Sports – the future Hall of Famer has mostly accomplished this with a bit of smoke and mirrors; relying on good positioning and quick hands to deter faster ball-handlers his slower feet can no longer keep up with.

Realizing this, Milwaukee clearly made it a priority to get Holiday downhill against the slower Paul, as they did in this sequence, with the Bucks point guard blowing by an unsteady Paul following a cross-over dribble. Though a late show of help from Devin Booker forced Holiday to reverse his layup, the 31-year-old guard still had a clear path towards the rim that he was ultimately unable to finish as he sensed a rotating Deandre Ayton that caused him to angle his shot too high off the backboard.

Despite finishing over 60 percent of his attempts near the basket in the regular season, Holiday repeatedly missed from down-low Thursday night, choosing bad angles from which to attack and shying away from contact that might have made up for it with a trip to the charity stripe.

3. Deandre Ayton cutting layup, plus foul – assist by Mikal Bridges: .15 left in the second quarter

We still have a minimum of two games to go in these NBA Finals, yet it would be perfectly acceptable to call this the single best sequence of the series.

A 10-pass, switch-everything, all-out effort by both teams resulted in a cutting layup by a diving Deandre Ayton that was made even sweeter thanks to an “and-1” foul by Tucker.

Beginning with a steal from Ayton on the defensive end that pushed the Suns into transition, Paul began the passing bonanza with a quick dump off to Booker just outside the lane once the Bucks big men closed off his path towards the rim. Unable to make any forward progress himself, Booker tossed the ball out to a waiting Crowder behind the line, who, in turn, fired a quick pass towards Bridges in the corner.

With the Bucks defenders flying all over the place, Bridges was forced from the corner and tossed the ball back out to Crowder, who had moved to the opposite side of the court. True to his role as a passing turnstile, Crowder passed up a shot and once again fired to the corner, which Paul occupied.

Not quite ready to break, the Bucks responded by sending Giannis and Holiday careening towards Paul, arms outstretched wide, which forced the more diminutive guard to fire back towards Crowder.

From there, a touch pass to Booker above the line resulted in the Suns leading scorer attempting, and mostly failing, to dribble his way around Tucker, as the defensive stalwart somehow kept up with the deadly two-guard while simultaneously avoiding fouling him.

Left with little room to operate, Booker passed to Crowder at the top of the key, who, finally, found Bridges inside, who promptly raised up and dumped the ball off to a cutting Ayton near the rim to finish the action.

Whew!

Though it was only three points in the second quarter, the sequence was noticeably demoralizing for the Bucks as it represented an outstanding defensive effort that still went the Suns’ way. A theme that has started to become recurring for Milwaukee through two games.

4. Giannis Antetokounmpo blocks Chris Paul at rim: 5:00 left in the third quarter

With the Bucks down ten and teetering on the precipice of collapsing, the Suns collected an errant Jrue Holiday shot and sped into transition, looking to deliver a knockout blow.

Attacking the Milwaukee point guard in transition, Paul was able to get the first step on Holiday following a high screen set by Ayton as he cut through the Bucks defense on his way to the lane.

As if sensing the potential vulnerability, Giannis deftly slid towards the rim, leaving Crowder alone in the corner, and timed his jump perfectly to meet Paul at the rim and swatted the potential layup away. Not only did the basket keep the Suns’ lead from growing, but it sparked the Bucks into transition, where they promptly answered with a bomb from behind the arc that cut the lead down to seven, following a pass from Antetokounmpo.

While it would all go for naught, the play was symbolic of the type of effort Giannis provided through much of the night, as the Bucks’ MVP routinely swept in at the most critical moments to save his team and keep them within shouting distance of the lead.

Milwaukee has multiple problems to work out going forward in the series, but maximizing Giannis isn’t one of them.

5. Devin Booker hits 3-point attempt – assist by Chris Paul: 7:18 left in the fourth quarter

Once again, applying pressure to Paul as he brought the ball up towards the frontcourt, the Bucks, despite their inconsistent offensive performance, had relied on their always steady defensive prowess to claw their way back into single digits.

For all the adjustments that the Bucks deserve credit for having made – including pressuring Paul and featuring a more aggressive Holiday on the offensive side of the basketball – Milwaukee found their way back into the game thanks to a tried and true strategy: protect the paint at all costs and bet that the opposing team can’t hit enough outside shots to make the math work out in their favor.

It nearly worked and would have, had the Suns not decided never to miss an open 3.

With Ayton setting a perfectly executed screen near the logo that forced the Bucks into a quick switch, Giannis immediately rose from his drop position to meet Paul above the line. Even as Booker attempted to set another subsequent screen on Giannis to pry a few precious feet of space for Paul to work with, Milwaukee was ready, as Tucker too rose from his drop ready to help corral the point guard on the other side of the screen.

As always seems to be the case for the Suns, it was the counter to the counter that came to matter most.

Slipping away from his screen attempt, Booker darted to the top of the arc and received the ball completely uncovered thanks to the amount of attention the Bucks had given Paul. Even as Giannis gave a valiant effort attempting to close out, Booker nailed the mostly uncontested triple, pushing the Phoenix lead back to double-digits and largely icing the game despite the time left on the clock.

The problem for the Bucks wasn’t that they failed to adjust, but rather that their adjustments came against a Suns team with a plethora of answers. Unless Milwaukee finds solutions of their own, “Suns in four” won’t just be a chant but a reality.