The Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns faced off for the NBA Finals. The Phoenix Suns eliminated the LA Clippers to advance from the west. While the Milwaukee Bucks eliminated the Atlanta Hawks to make it out of the east. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Chris Paul made their first NBA Finals. Both were looking to cement their legacy with a championship.
The Greek Freak suffered a hyperextended knee in game 4 of the ECF. However, the Milwaukee Bucks came through and won the series without him. Giannis played in game 1 of this series. However, the Phoenix Suns ended up winning this game 118-105.
The Milwaukee Bucks failed to take a pivotal game 1 on the road. This was despite having their best player on the court.
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Who are the 3 people most responsible for the Milwaukee Bucks losing game 1 to the Phoenix Suns?
Jrue Holiday
Jrue Holiday was expected to have a dominant performance in game 1. The Milwaukee Bucks backcourt of Middleton and Holiday are responsible for keeping up with Booker and Paul. Middleton finished this game with 29 PTS,7 RBD and 4 AST.
However, Jrue scored only 10 points in this pivotal game 1. He only made 4 of his 14 shots from the field ( 28.6%). Additionally, he shot 0 of his 4 three-pointer attempts. He was the only Milwaukee Bucks player unable to shoot a single three-pointer in this game. To make matters worse, he also 0 STL and 0 BLK. This shoddy performance on the offensive end and the inability to knock down open shots is why Holiday is responsible for the Game 1 loss
Mike Budenholzer( Coach)
The Milwaukee Bucks coach must be held accountable for the lack of performance in game 1. He was unable to contain the Phoenix Suns offence for the majority of this game. Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton all managed to score more than 20 points in this game.
The Milwaukee Bucks coach also let the Phoenix Suns outscore them in each of the first three quarters in the game. The Bucks were able to outscore the Suns by a mere 3 points in the final fourth quarter. Therefore, Mike Budenholzer is responsible for this game 1 blowout
Giannis Antetokounmpo
It might seem ridiculous to hold the Greek Freak responsible for this game 1 Loss. However, he clearly came back before he was completely healthy. He scored only 20 PTS 17 RBD and 4 AST. This might seem like a strong stat line. However, most of those rebounds (15) were defensive ones and did not require much exertion.
Therefore scoring only 20 points seems meagre to the Greek Freak. By coming back before being fully healthy, he will compromise his playstyle to an extent in this series. However, he is expected to be fully healthy by the time this series reaches its climax
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