At 6:28 before the end of the fourth quarter, Javier McKee pointed to the sky and motioned for Devon Booker to throw the ball into the basket. Booker did not send a high hanging ball, but chose to pull dry three points, and the ball bounced out of the basket. It didn't matter if he didn't score, McGee jumped high and took off the offensive rebound to make up for the dunk.
This ball can be seen as the Sun's declaration of revenge against the Bucks — I'll blow you up the way you blew me up last year.
In the end, in this Finals preview, the Suns beat the Bucks 131-107 to win four straight.
For the Suns, the significance of this game is not only to avenge the loss to the opponent in last year's finals and find a psychological advantage, but also to test the correct idea of reinforcements with actual combat. The course of the game and the results proved that the Suns' reinforcement idea was right, even if it was only a small repair, they are still the most championship team at the moment.
Consider a look back at where the Sun lost last year's Finals when the Suns were reversed by the Bucks:
In six games in the series, the Suns were snatched up 79 offensive rebounds by the Bucks, including 70 in the last five games. In the second offensive ring, the Bucks averaged 15.2 points per game, 6.2 more points than the Suns. When the Bucks won four games in a row, they averaged 16.3 points per game on second offense. In that series, the Suns' defensive position against the Bucks had done a good job, but because of the large number of rebounds, the Suns had a lot fewer shots than the Bucks.
Ayton's limitations on Antetokounmpo were excellent when he was on the floor, and he shot just 53 percent of an's shots defensively. But when Antetokounmpo played against other Suns defenders, he shot as high as 70 percent from the field. If Ayton is not on the floor, the Suns can't fight the Bucks with a small lineup, and after Crowder, Mikall Bridges and Cameron Johnson put more energy into the position, the Suns' defensive resources cannot take into account Chris Middleton and Judah Holliday.
These two problems highlight the weakness of the Suns' lack of depth in the fifth position, and the Suns have conceded 49 points per game in the penalty area throughout the series.
The Suns' third problem was defensive offense, and their mistakes gave the Bucks plenty of counter-attack opportunities, while Antetokounmpo was invincible in the counter-attack. In the last four games of the Finals, the Bucks averaged 15.8 points per game by fast attack.
The problem of defensive conversion offense is relatively the best solution, as long as Chris Paul and Devin Booker, the two major ball carriers, can control the mistakes, the pressure on the Suns' defensive counterattack will be much less. The suns brought in McGee last offseason and dug up Biyongbo in the middle of the season when the team was missing major generals due to injury, health and safety regulations, and the two blue-collar interiors were not only fed into pie-eating demons by Paul, but also made a huge contribution to the defensive end of the basket.
Theoretically, the Suns should make up a small ball center, such as Thaddeus Young, but after the failed pursuit of Young, the Suns only exchanged Craig for the trade deadline, reinforcing the depth of the flanks. As you can see, the Suns are very happy with their three-center configuration.
Today's battle with the Bucks also proves that the Suns' idea of reinforcements is right, and the resource reserves are sufficient.
In defending Antetokounmpo, Ayton remains a top pick. However, after the increase in resources in hand, Monty Williams did not stick to the use of Ayton alone. In the first half of the opening quarter alone, he tried various strategies such as Ayton's single defense, Crowder's single defense, and bag clip. In the rotation time, Williams tried to use the joint defense, and also tried to use mcGee and Biyongbo defense, and for a while Williams even used the two-tower combination of Ayton + McGee.
As a result, the inside group + the front group strangled Antetokounmpo's position battle attack, Antetokounmpo made 14 free throws, but only scored 18 points on 5 of 14 shots. Paul was in control of the tempo, the Suns had just eight turnovers in the game, and the Bucks scored just six points through fast-breakers. The Suns maintained the traditional center in the whole game for 48 minutes, the 11 offensive rebounds stolen by the Bucks basically came from garbage time, and Antetokounmpo, who averaged 4 offensive rebounds per game in the Finals, hung up zero offensive rebounds this time, which is equivalent to saying that the Suns strangled more than 50% of Antetokounmpo's positional battle scoring sources.
On the offensive end, in the face of the Bucks' unlimited turnovers, Paul and Booker's scoring was indeed suppressed, and their mid-range shots were limited. But after passing through last year's finals, the Suns have accumulated a lot of experience in cracking the infinite change of defense.
The sharpest weapon in the Sun Break Infinite Change defense is Ayton, and this season everyone is joking that McGee and Bi Yongbo's bravery made Ayton lose the maximum salary, but it really came to this high-end game, especially in the face of infinite change of defense, Ayton is indeed the value of the maximum salary. In the face of the Bucks' unlimited change of defense, Ayton made full use of his height advantage, played the advantage of soft hand, and gave and demanded near the basket and under the basket, he could eat cakes or attack on his back.
Of course, it has to be mentioned that Paul's ability to feed the ball is also to feed the ball to the inside line, and the angle that other players of the Sun can't find, the passing technique that can't be completed, Paul can find and complete. As long as the ball is delivered accurately, Ayton has a very high degree of confidence to send the ball to the basket, and Ayton shot 27 points on 12-of-14 shooting.
In addition, the essence of the Bucks' infinite change of defense is to lead the sun into the trap of "relying on heads-ups", but the sun is not fooled at all. In the face of defensive changes, the Suns continued to use the misplaced advantage to break through to create opportunities for other points, shooting 51 sports goals and giving 35 assists, with an assist rate of nearly 70%. In such a game where Ayton, McGee and Biyombo frequently attacked the basket, such an assist rate can be called "exaggerated".
Compared to last season, the Suns' lineup has not changed much, and it is unlikely that there will be any adjustments, but they win in stability, perfect chemistry, they have their own set of play, and they are constantly improving this style of play. After making up for the shortcomings of the fifth position, their playing style can already cope with various strategies at both the offensive and defensive ends.
Looking at the West, the Suns' biggest opponent is still the Warriors, but if Draymond Green's lumbar disc injury cannot be completely recovered, with the Warriors' internal strength, it is extremely difficult to think about the Suns. Among the Eastern Conference teams, the full-fledged Bucks, 76ers and Nets are the sun's strongest opponents, but the problem lies in the premise of "lineup integrity", the injuries of Lopez and Harden (and Embiid's injury history), and Irving's part-time status make it impossible for these three teams to play with a full lineup.
In the context of the problems of the opponents competing for the championship, the Sun, which has a complete lineup and both attack and defense, is the team with the most championship appearance in the league.