3 things to watch in Milwaukee Bucks Finals rematch vs Phoenix Suns

Well, this is a pretty neat way to end a four-game road trip in which you’ve flat out dominated the first three games. Sure, it was fun to get a matchup between LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the most anticipated game of the road trip is tonight when the Milwaukee Bucks travel to face the Phoenix Suns.

There has been absolutely zero Finals hangover from the runner’s up from last season as the Suns have gone scorched earth on the rest of the league this season. They have the league’s best record at 44-10 and the second-best net rating at plus-7.6.

This is the first of two games against the Suns this season, with the Bucks getting a home game against them in early March. Milwaukee has sort of struggled against Phoenix in recent regular-season memory, going 1-5 in the last three seasons (including 0-2 last year), but hey, they went 4-2 when it counted.

The Bucks have won four straight and eight of their last 10 games as they’ve started to heat up, right as they hit the toughest part of their schedule.

The Jrue Holiday vs Chris Paul chess match will be fun once again

Perhaps my favorite part of the NBA Finals (aside from the whole, you know, “Bucks winning the championship” thing) was seeing Jrue Holiday and Chris Paul going at it for six games.

It was a bit of a drag because Paul was dealing with a nagging wrist injury, so we didn’t get to see peak CP3 but it was still fun nonetheless. He has some of the best feel for the game that I’ve ever seen and Holiday is such an incredible defender that it makes for a great head-to-head battle.

Here’s the thing, even though I saw we didn’t see “peak CP3” he was still really dang good for most of that six-game series. He averaged 21.8 points on 62.2 percent true shooting and 8.2 assists. The problem was that he had a 16.6 percent turnover rate and you could tell that Holiday’s constant on-ball pressure in picking him up full court wore on him as the series went on.

I’d be surprised if Holiday picked up Paul full-court again for a regular season game in February, but we’ll see it for a few possessions, especially if the game is close. In the lone regular season game that the two played against each other, Paul posted 22 points, seven rebounds, and 13 assists.

For as good of a player and defender as Holiday is, Paul is one of the best point guards of all time and there’s a reason why he’s in the MVP discussion yet again. It’s going to be another very fun matchup between these two.