Suns Lose Game 4 - Bucks Even the Series
- Matt Elvy
- Jul 15, 2021
- 4 min read
The Milwaukee Bucks protect homecourt defeating the Suns 109 - 103.
First of all, let's get it out the way. The referees did not cause the Suns to lose this game. Yes the refs were terrible, but they were terrible for both teams. They were so inconsistent and I don't know how either team was able to get in to a rhythm. They would call a foul on Ayton using his chest and hands straight in the air (a legal defensive position) to defend Giannis, yet Jrue Holiday would be ultra aggressive reaching in against Chris Paul, but called nothing. They would fall for Jae Crowder flailing his arms, yet allow Booker to commit 3 uncalled fouls in the 4th (which would have been his 6th and final), including the last one where Booker actually took himself out of the game. Not just fouls either, Booker dribbled the ball off Tucker's foot, yet they said it came off Booker. They even called a phantom foul in the dying seconds on Cam Johnson, anticipating an intentional foul that never happened.
As our friend @uk_bucks said - "We can say this about refs, they’re consistently shite"
Anyway, enough about the refs. The Bucks did exactly what the Suns did in games 1 & 2 - they protected their homecourt.
Booker was the star of the show for the Suns in this one, scoring 42 points, his 3rd of the Playoffs, on only 28 shot attempts. In the process he made history, as he now has the record for the most points in a player's first postseason, taking over Dr J and Rick Barry. He's also only the 3rd player in history to score over 40 points 3 times in their first postseason, joining Rick Barry and Wilt Chamberlain.
Booker did the majority of his damage across the 2nd and 3rd quarters. In the 2nd he shot 5 of 8 from the field and hit both of his free throw attempts for 12 points, but in the 3rd he was simply incredible. He didn't miss a shot in the period, shooting 7 of 7 from the field and 4 of his 5 free throws for 18 points.
Despite Booker's historic night and efficient scoring, his fellow starters were not able to offer him much support, combining for just 38 points.
Chris Paul had a terrible game, especially by his standards, with only 10 points and 7 assists. He only hit 5 of his 13 shot attempts, with many of his misses looking short and hitting the front of the rim. It's been documented that he is playing with a hurt wrist, so it's possible that this was bothering him. He also struggled to keep a handle on the ball, as on quite a few occasions he lost his own dribble, for no obvious reason. Scarily, it was a bit reminiscent of the way he was handling the ball in the Lakers series after injuring his shoulder. These struggles caused CP3 to turn the ball over 5 times, the biggest being in the last minute of the game, as he simply mis-handled the ball and slipped, allow Khris Middleton to get the steal.
Deandre Ayton had a great game on the defensive end. He did a good job (as good as anyone can hope) against Giannis, making sure he bodied up without fouling and forcing the 2-time MVP in to some fall away shots, leading to misses. DA pulled in 17 rebounds (16 on the defensive end) and also blocked 3 shots. He did struggle on the offensive end though. With Chris Paul struggling there was less pick and roll play in this game, which meant Ayton found himself having to create for himself a bit more than usual. He also missed a few shots he'd usually make, which he was visibly frustrated about. He finished the game with only 6 points on 3 of 9 shooting. The team need to find different ways to get him some easy shots when the pick and roll isn't working.
The 2nd leading scorer for the Suns was Jae Crowder with 15 points. He only shot 3 of 10, but contributed in other ways, as he had 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. He also drew some fouls on the Bucks by being quite dramatic after taking some contact.
As you can see from the game flow (provided by Viziball App), frustratingly the Suns were on top for most of the game, but couldn't hold on in the closing frame.
The main problem for the Suns was turnovers. They had 17 for the game vs the Bucks' 5. Chris Paul alone had 5 and Booker had 4. The Bucks turned those turnovers in to 24 points. The turnovers allowed the Bucks to get out on the break, as they had 15 in that area, the Suns on the other hand had 0 fast break points - a testament to the Bucks' defence.
A crazy stat from this game is that despite the loss they had the higher field goal percentage for the game at 51%. The Bucks only shot 40%, but had 19 more shot attempts and got to the free throw line 10 more times. These last 2 stats can be attributed to the Bucks' hustle, as they grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. The Suns only had 5.
Silver lining time. The Bucks protected homecourt, just like we did - they've been a very good team at home (9-1 in the Playoffs) and their crowd get just as raucous as ours. It's now a best of 3 series, with 2 of those games being at home in Phoenix, where we boast an 8-2 record. This game may seem bad on the surface, but we only lost by 6, with the game tied in the last 2 minutes and that is with everyone but Booker struggling on the offensive end. I expect the coaching staff to do what they've done all season and that's be super prepared going in to the next game. I'd also like to think that Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton will be back to their game 1 & 2 form.
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