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#2 Let Jrue Holiday guard Chris Paul eight out of 10 times
With all the switching that the Milwaukee Bucks did to try and stop the Phoenix Suns’ hot-shooting backcourt, Jrue Holiday hardly guarded Chris Paul in Game 1.
On multiple occasions, the 11-time All-Star was able to pick-and-choose his opponent on switches, choosing to victimize Lopez and reserve forward Bobby Portis repeatedly.
It’s no wonder that Paul was able to pick apart the Milwaukee Bucks defense as he rained down mid-range jumpers on his opponents.
Coach Mike Budenholzer will have to find a way to keep Holiday in front of Paul and not allow the Phoenix Suns guard to touch the ball as much as possible.
Whether they have to play Paul man-to-man and stop switching on him or double-team him as soon as he gets the ball, the Milwaukee Bucks should try to give Paul a variety of looks on Thursday.
#3 Milwaukee Bucks need to contain one of the Phoenix Suns’ Big 3
The Phoenix Suns had their top three stars score at least 20 points in the Game 1 victory. Aside from Paul (who had 32 points) and Ayton (who dropped 22 points), Devin Booker scored 27 points, 16 of which came in the first half.
Normally, the best teams would pick their poison by allowing one star player to go off while they suffocated the others for even trying to get the ball. However, the Milwaukee Bucks simply gave all three Phoenix Suns stars the license to shoot, never making it a point to control and contain any one or two.
Paul is the head of the snake and the catalyst for everything the Phoenix Suns do, so he’s the priority. However, the Milwaukee Bucks will also have to frustrate and punish Booker whenever he tries to get to his spots on the floor.
Though the two-time All-Star made plenty of tough shots to get his 27, he still had a lot of easy baskets that could have been taken away had the Bucks’ perimeter defense been quick enough to recover.
Containing two of the Phoenix Suns’ Big 3 should be one of the rallying cries of the Milwaukee Bucks for Game 2.
Guess the Bulls players in this quiz and it's not going to be easy!
