Suns at Bucks Game Six Preview and Pick

Suns at Bucks Game Six | The Game

The Milwaukee Bucks will host the Phoenix Suns in Game Six of the NBA Finals Tuesday evening in Milwaukee, with the chance to capture their organizations’ first championship since 1971. Meanwhile, Phoenix will attempt to force a Game Seven back in the desert as the franchise continues to search for its first NBA title.

The Bucks have been incredibly solid at home thus far, only dropping one game at the Fiserv Forum in their first meeting with the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been on an unbelievable tear in the postseason and is averaging 32 points, 13 rebounds, and 5.6 assists during the finals; teammates Khris Middleton (25.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 5.4 APG) and Jrue Holiday (17.6 PPG, 9 AP, 5.6 RPG) were phenomenal in Game Five and helped Milwaukee close down a 16-point first-quarter deficit— the first double-digit lead Phoenix blew in the playoffs— and ultimately win the game.

Devin Booker has matched Giannis’ effectiveness and even outscored him, dropping 42 and 40 points in each of the most recent meetings. Booker unenviable became the first man in NBA Finals history to score 40+ in consecutive losses, though his confidence will likely be unaffected as he is incredibly stoic for a young player.

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As sensational as Booker has been in recent times, the Suns have devolved throughout the Finals into the same team that depended on him to carry them in every game, which caused them to be one of the worst franchises in the NBA for many years. They need to get some snappiness back into their sets and ball movement to effectively duel the Bucks.

Chris Paul will also need to be more aggressive than he was the past couple of games; an All-NBA Second-Team member, CP3 was responsible for the game-ending turnover in Game Four, then three days later committed an ill-advised foul on Antetokounmpo that also led to the Bucks closing out Game Five.

The “Point God” was excellent in the fourth quarter of Game Five and was hunting his shot, scoring 10 points and knocking down two huge threes, though the Suns cannot wait until the end of the game to get him going; the Bucks do not like to lose at home, and Paul will have to come out guns blazing from the opening tip.

As far as Milwaukee is concerned, this is somewhat of a free hit— even though they do not fare well with expectations, they were not supposed to win either of the past two games, given Holiday’s extreme struggles shooting the ball in Game Four and the Suns’ immaculate home record they failed to uphold in Game Five.

The key for the Bucks will be to do more of the same; if Holiday and Middleton knock down their shots, they will win, and if they do not, the Suns will win.

Suns at Bucks Game Six Pick

The Bucks head into the game as -4.5 (-112) favorites while the Suns are +4.5 (-106) on the spread; Milwaukee is also -205 on the moneyline to Phoenix’s +164, even though they were favored to win the series before Game One. The over/under is also set at 221 with -108 odds on the over and -112 on the under.

The Bucks should be expected to wrap up this series as Giannis is crowned Finals MVP and they win their first title in 50 years. Scott Foster is in charge of the referee crew for the night, and bad blood between him and Chris Paul has led to Paul losing 12 consecutive playoff games when Foster is in charge; coincidence or not, there is a trend that CP3’s teams lose when Foster is in charge, and without any real momentum, the Suns will soon be flying back to Arizona to clear out their locker rooms.