Milwaukee Bucks: 3 adjustments to make in Game 2 of NBA Finals

Jordan Treske

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JULY 06: (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Milwaukee Bucks will as they go into Game 2 of their NBA Finals series with the Phoenix Suns.

Milwaukee dropped Game 1 by taking on a 118-105 loss and falling into a 1-0 hole to start off their first Finals series in 47 years. It was far from an auspicious start for the Bucks as the Suns increasingly took control of the opening game and it left the Bucks still searching for their first victory against this year’s Western Conference champions.

Milwaukee Bucks must turn Jrue Holiday loose on to Chris Paul in Game 2 of NBA Finals

For the large part of Game 1, the Bucks were very comfortable switching on to the Bucks’ premier shot creators, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.

While the Bucks were very willing to live with putting their bigs on an island against the Suns’ stars, it didn’t stop Paul from eventually dictating the proceedings and steering the Suns to a 1-0 lead as he finished with 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 4-for-7 from three and nine assists.

The Bucks may very well look to offer up such looks to the Suns again, but we may very well see the Bucks switch up different defensive looks to disrupt Phoenix’s methodical offense. And Bucks guard Jrue Holiday may very well hold the keys in the Bucks’ quest to slow down Paul.

With Phoenix and Paul excelling so much in pick-and-roll, putting up an increased resistance towards the Suns’ high-usage backcourt is paramount to Milwaukee, just as Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer discussed after the Bucks’ Game 1 loss:

"“Their pick-and-roll game is tough to guard,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think we’ve just got to keep getting better. We’ll look at the film. We’ll see how we can maybe take away some of the rhythm.”"

Per NBA.com/stats, Holiday only guard Paul across 13.5 partial possessions and the future Hall of Fame guard finished scored six points on 2-for-2 shooting, with both makes coming from 3-point range, and four assists.

Holiday has the size, length and strength to bother Paul in getting to his favored spots on the floor, whether it’s from mid-range or from beyond the arc, and the Bucks don’t have a requisite defender other than Holiday that can put pressure on the ever collected Paul.

Again, putting Holiday on Paul won’t be a cure-all and the Bucks’ defensive unit will be tested in other ways if the Bucks move Holiday on to Paul after seeing plenty of reps on Booker (Booker was held scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting when matched up on Holiday in Game 1). But that’s where having someone like P.J. Tucker will come in handy in that regard.

Jul 6, 2021; Phoenix, Arizona, USA (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)

Milwaukee Bucks must unleash Jrue Holiday more offensively going into Game 2

From Holiday’s role and workload on the defensive side of the ball, it’s time to turn our attention in how he can get going in Game 2 against the Suns.

Holiday’s struggles were evident from early on and he was unable to shake them all night long as he finished with 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting (0-for-4 from deep), nine assists, seven boards and three turnovers.

There’s no question that Holiday had to adjust with having superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo back in action and we saw Holiday often settling for jumpers rather than forcing the issue and getting to the rack. After averaging 30.7 frontcourt touches per game in the Bucks’ Conference Finals series with the Atlanta Hawks, Holiday had 23 frontcourt touches, including two paint touches, for Game 1.

Meeting with the media Wednesday afternoon in between Games 1 and 2, Holiday spoke about his performance and the lack of aggression we saw from him offensively:

"“Pick my spots to be aggressive, and I think sometimes it’s gotten me in trouble,” Holiday said. “I think I’ve got to be aggressive from the beginning of the game. Sometimes it gets just a bit difficult, or it’s just a bit different, again, because we have another ball handler and somebody that’s great in transition and makes plays for others.”"

Of course, the Bucks can certainly make life easier for Holiday by incorporating more pick-and-roll looks to get him going downhill in a less cluttered paint. It’s also on Holiday to better recognize when and where to pick his spots than he did in Game 1.

We’ll just have to see whether we’ll see a more comfortable and productive Holiday in Game 2.

Milwaukee Bucks have to balance more small ball lineups in Game 2 of NBA Finals

For as much as the Bucks have a size advantage on the Suns going into this series, it did very little in serving them well throughout Game 1 across various areas.

And it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when the Bucks were looking for ways to climb out of their lengthy deficit that they turned to playing small ball lineups that featured Antetokounmpo at the 5 to some semblance of success.

Having outscored the Suns 29-26 in the final frame, Milwaukee’s small ball lineups were among the few units to have a positive plus-minus and net rating Tuesday night. The Bucks’ lineup of Holiday, Bryn Forbes, Pat Connaughton, Khris Middleton and Antetokounmpo was a +4 in seven minutes.

Although these lineups surely affected the Bucks’ size, presence on the boards and offers up the Suns to hunt favorable mismatches, especially with Forbes on the floor, it opened up the Bucks’ offense in ways we didn’t see for much of the night. Of course, it was also a last-ditch effort for the Bucks to salvage anything out of Game 1 and it’s hard to expect the Bucks not playing someone like Brook Lopez for as much as the final 16 minutes and 48 seconds like he did at the end of Game 1.

With the Suns having lost Dario Saric to a torn ACL, we may see Phoenix lean even further with the versatility they have deep within their bench for the rest of this series. How that goes will surely tests the Bucks’ traditional setup and they have to be prepared to meet the Suns’ smaller lineups, especially when it can free up some easy looks for the likes of Antetokounmpo, Holiday and Middleton as a whole.

We’ll see how the Bucks can adjust going into Game 2 and whether it will result in Milwaukee evening up the series later Thursday night.

Jordan Treske

I'm a fan of the NBA and I like to write about what I see from it.