Suns Have Edge Over Bucks in NBA Finals

by Julian Spivey

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This year’s NBA Finals will be a lot of fun in that both franchises will have a long-awaited title no matter which team win. The Eastern Conference champion Milwaukee Bucks last won an NBA title 50 years ago in 1971. The Phoenix Suns are one of 11 teams in the NBA to never win a title but have been around the longest of any of the title-less teams at 51 seasons.

I’m going to break down the NBA Finals position-by-position to try to determine whether the Suns of the Bucks have the edge.
 
Point Guard: Chris Paul (Suns) and Jrue Holiday (Bucks)
The point guard battle in this NBA Finals matchup is going to be epic. You have two veterans in Chris Paul and Jrue Holiday going head-to-head, both All-Star caliber players and both play with a fierce tenacity and drive to win. Holiday is a defensive monster, who recently made the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team, along with his teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo. Not only will he pester Paul on defense but will probably get a lot of time on the Suns biggest scorer Devin Booker. Paul is one of the smartest players in the league and can carve up a defense with both his passing and scoring. Paul averaged 16.4 points per game this season with 8.9 assists per game and shoots a ridiculous 50 percent from the field (his best mark since his fourth season). Paul is arguably the best player in the league without a title, this is his first Finals appearance. This matchup is close, but I must give the edge to …

Edge: Suns

Shooting Guard: Devin Booker (Suns) vs. Khris Middleton (Bucks)
Wow. This matchup is just as good as the one at point guard, if not even better. Once again you have two All-Star caliber players going at it in Devin Booker versus Khris Middleton. Booker is the Suns leading scorer at 25.6 points per game (which was good enough for 13th overall in the league). Middleton averaged 20.4 points per game this season, so he gives up five a game to Booker, but unlike Booker, Middleton is not his team’s top scorer (at least when Antetokounmpo is healthy). Middleton averages more assists and rebounds per game, but not by a large margin. Both players haven’t been quite at their regular season level in these playoffs either. Middleton gets the edge on the defensive side of things, which the Bucks having one of the best (if not the best) defensive starting-five in the game. This one is as close as it gets and I’m not going to be able to give an edge on this one, as a result.

Edge: Tie

Center: Deandre Ayton (Suns) vs. Brook Lopez (Bucks)
At center we have a young gun in Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton and a vet in Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez. Ayton has looked like a beast at times during the postseason and seems to be playing his best all-around basketball at the most important time. Most of his points come right at the baskets, many of them being on dunks. Ayton averaged 14.4 points per game during the season and has seen that go up to 16.2 in the playoffs, with a high of 17.8 against the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference Finals. He’s been averaging 11.8 boards in the playoffs too, which is more than one per game higher than in the regular season. Unlike Ayton, Lopez can come out and shoot the ball – even from beyond the arc. Lopez averaged 12.3 points per game this season and has also seen his numbers rise a bit during the postseason to 13.8 per game. Also, unlike Ayton, Lopez isn’t much of a rebounder, at least at this state in his career. He only tallied five per game during the season, but that has gone up by one this postseason. This one is close, but I’m going to ride with the young, athletic gun here.

Edge: Suns

Small Forward: Mikal Bridges (Suns) vs. P.J. Tucker (Bucks)
This is probably the least interesting matchup of the series, just because you don’t really have any current or former All-Star players in this matchup. According to Bleacher Report, Bridges mostly exists to compliment the starting Suns players around him. Bridges is one of the more underrated defensive players in the league, who some felt was an All-Defense snub. On the other hand, Tucker is a strong defender, as well. Bridges has been a better shooter than Tucker, especially when Tucker’s corner threes haven’t been falling. Bridges averaged 13.5 points per game this season, compared to Tucker’s 3.7. It might be the most boring matchup we’ve discussed thus far, but it’s also the least close.

Edge: Suns

Power Forward: Jae Crowder (Suns) vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo
This one is obvious. Giannis Antetokounmpo was the two-time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player before this season. So, even if he’s not 100 percent healthy he’s going to have the edge of Jae Crowder, who’s more of a complimentary type of player. Antetokounmpo injured his knee in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks and did not play in the final two games of that series. His team stepped up and won without him, but the Bucks certainly aren’t likely to have that happen against the Suns. Antetokounmpo is currently listed as doubtful for tonight’s game one of the NBA Finals, but Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer did say that he’s making “good progress.” He’s a must play for the Bucks to have a chance.

Edge: Bucks

I’m not even going to pretend I know a whole lot about the benches on these two teams, but frankly seem to be weaker than most teams you see compete in the NBA Finals. Cameron Payne, Cameron Johnson and Torrey Craig (who began the season on the Bucks and gets a championship ring either way) have done well for Phoenix in this postseason and the Bucks don’t have much other than Bobby Portis (who has been starting for the injured Antetokounmpo).

When it comes to coaching both Monty Williams of the Suns and Budenholzer of the Bucks are making their first finals appearances as head coaches. Budenholzer has a much better winning percentage throughout his career than Williams, which might should give him a coaching edge, but Williams truly has never had the chance to coach a team this good until this season.

Prediction: Suns in 5 

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