What the Milwaukee Bucks need to do in order to win the NBA Finals
All season long, the Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the most dominant teams in the league, but nobody seemed to talk about them much during the regular season since they were overshadowed by the likes of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets.
Philly and Brooklyn were the “talks of the East” not only because of them finishing over the Bucks in the standings, but because of the starpower they had on their teams. Both teams had their own version of a “Big 3,” which is why they were title favorites, but nobody seemed to give the Bucks’ “Big 3” the time of day.
Gianns Antetokounmpo had won back-to-back league MVP awards entering the 2020-21 season and Khris Middleton was coming off an All-Star season, but again, the Bucks were just a team that people overlooked since they had failed in the postseason in previous years.
The Bucks were one of four teams to finish inside the Top-10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency during the regular season, the other three teams being the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz and their soon-to-be opponents, the Phoenix Suns.
READ MORE: Why Milwaukee Bucks can win the 2021 NBA Finals
Not only did Milwaukee lead the league in scoring during the regular season, but they made major strides in becoming a perimeter-oriented team this season. They shot 38.9% as a team from deep this season, 5th best in the league and during the postseason, over 30% of their total scoring output is coming from beyond-the-arc.
Becoming a threat from deep was one of the main goals of the Bucks this year, but they have also continued to be extremely tough to stop on the interior, especially with Antetokounmpo leading the charge. His health is definitely going to be something to monitor in this series, as Giannis suffered a hyperextended left knee in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, but the Bucks are still a force on the interior without him.
Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis held their own the Bucks’ last two games without Giannis and they found a lot of success having both Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday attack the paint on the drive. Antetokounmpo is very 50-50 as of right now for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but with or without him, Milwaukee will find success attacking the paint.
READ MORE: Why the Phoenix Suns will win the 2021 NBA Finals
In order to win a championship against the Suns, the Bucks are not only going to have to continue to find ways to score on the interior, something they have had a lot of success doing in the postseason, but they are going to have to defend at an extremely high level.
The Suns are not the most impressive offensive team in the league, but they have numerous guys that can score and in bunches. Jrue Holiday is going to have to be fantastic defending Chris Paul, Khris Middleton is going to have to hold his own against Devin Booker, but the most important atchup for the Bucks is Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis versus Deandre Ayton.
The Suns’ young center has been a force on the interior all postseason long and has been one of the main reasons Phoenix has been so successful at dominating the paint over their opponents. Three-point shots are going to be huge in this series, but whoever controls the paint will win the title.
The Bucks must find ways to try and neutralize Ayton on the inside and Brook Lopez is their best chance at doing so. The 33-year-old veteran is going to be playing in the biggest games of his career over the next two weeks and he must show out in order for Milwaukee to win a title.
