Milwaukee was defending well, but defending wrong

In Game 1, the Milwaukee Bucks actually got outscored in the paint and the Phoenix Suns were able to convert on easy layup attempts too many times. The adjustment made by the Bucks for Game 2 was to keep the Suns out of the paint and this seemed to work pretty much the entire game. 

Milwaukee outscored Phoenix 54-28 in the paint, which definitely favored the Bucks and their offensive gameplan, but they still lost this game. How in the world did the Bucks outscore their opponents by 26 points in the paint and still end up losing the game? 

Well, the Suns were able to take advantage of the Bucks defense not in the interior, but on the perimeter. The Suns were knocking down three-point shots in succession early on in the game, yet the Bucks coaching staff made no in-game adjustments throughout Game 2. Milwaukee did a great job of collapsing into the paint and preventing Chris Paul and Devin Booker from driving downhill towards the rim, but too many players collapsed at once for the Bucks. 

As a result, the Suns had their choice with either hitting wide-open guys on the wing or in the corners for wide-open three-point attempts. Phoenix did an excellent job of moving the ball around on the perimeter and the Bucks seemed to do a fairly good job at defending the Suns, but too many Bucks’ defenders were caught defending the paint when the Suns had too many guys out on the perimeter. 

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A great example of the Suns offense and in-game adjustments being better than the Bucks defense was seen very clearly right before halftime when the Suns just picked apart Milwaukee’s defense with their ball movement. Milwaukee collapsed too many times into the paint when they did not have to, resulting in Phoenix getting exactly what they wanted offensively. 

This was terrific defense by the Milwaukee Bucks, but at the end of the day, the Suns offense was just better and this seemed to be the story of Game 2. The Bucks did an excellent job of having their defense look almost like they were all connected by a long piece of rope and moving in unison with one another, but too many times, they got caught with either too many guys on the ball or in the paint, resulting in open looks for the Suns. This was seen clearly when the ball went into Mikal Bridges in the paint during this possession above, resulting in an easy “and-one” opportunity for DeAndre Ayton. 

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Right now, the Suns offense is clicking on all cylinders, making life difficult for the Bucks. In Game 1, Milwaukee struggled defending the interior and in Game 2, they took away the interior but got decimated on the perimeter. It should be interesting to see how the Bucks defend the Suns in Game 3 of this series, but at the end of the day, it may not matter since they do not seem to want to make in-game adjustments.