The Phoenix Suns took Game 1 of the NBA Finals in a convincing fashion right in front of their fans. The Milwaukee Bucks were able to mount some runs but the Suns quashed their hopes right away. It was a strong performance from Chris Paul and his boys. They proved they deserved to play on basketball's biggest stage.
Amid all the hype surrounding the Suns, the Bucks should remain calm, collected, and review the mistakes they made in Game 1. Every loss is heartbreaking but it is not indicative of their fate. There are three key issues they need to address and all of them a very doable. If they execute accordingly, then they can easily take Game 2 to tie the series up.
Get to the Free-Throw Line By Any Means
The Bucks got to the free-throw line 16 (44.4 percent) times which pales in comparison to the Suns' 26 free-throw attempts (96.2 percent). The percentages speak for themselves: the Bucks need to shoot better. But before everything else, they need to be more aggressive on offense. Their low free-throw output might be a result of the Suns' homecourt advantage or whatnot. There's a lot of truth in this but the Bucks should not accept their fate for what it is. The Suns worked hard to get this homecourt advantage. The Bucks need to work harder to nullify this.
More Production From Jrue
Jrue Holiday just had 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting. These are way below his current postseason averages of 17.6 points on 42.3 percent shooting. Not to mention that Holiday peaked in their series with the Atlanta Hawks where he averaged 22.0 points on 44.4 percent shooting. From the looks of it, Holiday was getting more and more confident and comfortable as the Bucks got deeper into the playoffs. Yet in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, things just looked flat for the two-way guard.
Holiday may have been drained from trying to contain Chris Paul (or at least fighting through switches) that when it was their time to score, he had nothing left in the tank. However, Holiday knows how important he is to the Bucks' title hopes. Some say he was the final piece to the puzzle that the Bucks needed to finally get over the hump. For this to actually be accepted as the truth, Holiday needs to step up.
Box Out Deandre Ayton
You might be wondering, why isn't the last item related to Chris Paul? Didn't the Point God score 32 points, had nine assists, and essentially assaulted the Bucks's defense? It's simply because Mike Budenholzer probably has “STOP CHRIS PAUL” at the very top of his priority list. So there's really no point in emphasizing it further.
As such, a wiser move would be to look at the other details of the game which might have been overlooked. Looking at the stat sheet, what stands out is Ayton's game-high 19 rebounds. The next top rebounder for the Suns was Jae Crowder with nine. Next to him was Chris Paul who had a mere four rebounds.
They can look at this strange stat in different ways. They can say that Ayton's just a beast on the boards while the rest of his teammates are slackers. Looking at the Bucks' roster, they have several good rebounders in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, and Khris Middleton. In addition, they are the bigger team than the Suns. Given these realities, it should relatively be easier for them to just box out Ayton as well as the entire Suns squad.
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