The Long Two: Bucks have fully unlocked Giannis in the NBA Finals

Instead of shoehorning Giannis Antetokounmpo into something he isn’t, the Bucks have unlocked him as the most dominant complementary weapon in basketball.

Even as the final seconds of Game 2 of the NBA Finals ticked away in their opponent’s favor, it was clear the Milwaukee Bucks had found something. Despite the Suns taking a 2-0 advantage and maintaining homecourt advantage, the series was shifting, both geographically and tactically, toward Milwaukee. The Bucks pressed the advantages they found in Game 2 even further in Games 3 and 4, earning two home wins to level the series and unlocking an optimized version of their best player.

How have the Milwaukee Bucks gotten the most out of Giannis Antetokounmpo?

Milwaukee’s momentum had been building for several quarters, but the breakthrough came midway through Game 3, when Deandre Ayton picked up his fourth foul with 10:25 to play in the third quarter. It forced the Suns to play small, with Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson as the primary centers, and at times pack their defense into a 2-3 zone. The Bucks then countered not by keeping Brook Lopez on the floor and trying to mash Phoenix on the interior, but by also downsizing and playing four perimeter players around Giannis Antetokounmpo at center. That allowed Milwaukee to stretch an already thinning defense with speed and shooting while Antetokounmpo controlled the paint, all while continuing to dominate at the rim and on the glass on either end of the floor.

Considering the stakes and opponent quality, Game 3 may well have been the best Milwaukee’s offense has looked since Mike Budenholzer took over three years ago. The Bucks were at once dynamic and improvisational, with shooters, cutters and playmakers all moving in concert with one another based on how Phoenix’s defenders reacted to each unfolding threat. Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton broke down and read the defense rather than focusing solely on their own matchup, while cutters snuck into open space along the baseline. Most notably, the Bucks deployed Antetokounmpo less as an isolation shot creator and more as an off-ball weapon, which largely carried over to Game 4. Rather than asking him to create off the dribble and force his way through double teams, the Bucks allowed possessions to build until their superstar could catch the ball with a readymade advantage against a backpedaling defense.

The result was a fully unlocked Giannis, assaulting the rim as a roll man, ducking in underneath the rim, creating second chances on the glass and practically stuffing smaller defenders in the basket. Instead of charging headlong into a crowd when he didn’t have a lane, Antetokounmpo simply pivoted into another action — usually a handoff or pick-and-roll designed to get him the ball in a more advantageous spot:

When Giannis did attack one-on-one, it was against single coverage, often with a few hard dribbles and a strong finish:

Antetokounmpo is setting more ball screens than ever in these Finals, and his frequency playing that role seems to increase by the game. The Suns can’t switch those actions, lest Giannis overpower a weaker defender in the post, so they have no choice but to concede an opening somewhere. If it isn’t Antetokounmpo attacking the rim, it could be Middleton strolling into a clean jumper or a spot-up shooter stepping into an open look. In Games 2, 3 and 4, Antetokounmpo shot 31-of-36 within five feet of the basket and attempted 43 free throws — his highest three-game total since 2019. The Suns wisely helped off of Milwaukee’s shooters more aggressively in Game 4 in order to obstruct Antetokounmpo’s path, which paid off as the Bucks shot just 24 percent from 3. And yet, they still found a way to attempt 38 percent of their shots at the rim and grab 34 percent of their own missed shots — two crucial bellwethers of Milwaukee’s offensive success. Giannis’ gravity at the rim opened up shots on the weak side, and eventually, he still worked his way to 26 points and eight assists on 11-of-19 shooting.

For Giannis and the Bucks to undergo this kind of evolution at this stage of the playoffs demonstrates flexibility they haven’t always shown in previous seasons. Instead of trying to shoehorn Antetokounmpo into the role of primary initiator, Milwaukee has unlocked him as the most dominant complementary weapon in basketball. The system that powered two dominant regular seasons and back-to-back MVP honors for Antetokounmpo has morphed, almost on the fly, into something more pragmatic and more devastating; the result is one of the most spectacular individual playoff runs in recent memory, and a two-time MVP reaching yet another level of dominance.

Can the Suns get a grip on their turnover problem?

Among the many drivers’ of Phoenix’s success this year is the attention they pay to every detail of an offensive possession. This was one of the best improvising teams in the NBA, but also one of the most meticulous about executing its sets — thanks in large part to Chris Paul’s steadiness at the point of attack. The Suns had the fourth-lowest turnover percentage in basketball this season as Paul, one of the most sure-handed point guards in NBA history, posted his lowest individual turnover rate in four years. But lately, one of Phoenix’s greatest advantages has become an Achilles heel.

The Suns have coughed the ball up on at least 14 percent of their possessions in each of the last three games, and that figure has risen in each contest. Of their 52 turnovers in the series, 17 belong to Paul, who hadn’t given the ball up more than four times in any of his previous 15 playoff games. In fact, Paul has committed more turnovers in his last three games than he did in the previous two series combined. This is a future Hall-of-Famer who has built a career on taking care of the ball, suddenly made vulnerable to active hands and eager help defenders.

The inflection point came in Game 2, when Jrue Holiday became Paul’s primary defender. For all of his offensive struggles in the series, Holiday’s work on the other end of the floor has been world-class, regardless of whether he’s hounding Paul, chasing Devin Booker or clogging up the action away from the ball. He’s one of the few defenders in the league (in NBA history, really) who can consistently encroach upon Paul’s space and truly make him uncomfortable. Where Paul can comfortably bring the ball up the floor and get to his spots against most defenders, Holiday makes him work for every step, makes every dribble that much more arduous and every pass that much more haphazard.

Holiday and his teammates have forced an uncharacteristic amount of live-ball turnovers in the series, which has only added fuel to what is already one of the most devastating transition offenses in the NBA. And even when the Bucks don’t turn Phoenix’s miscues directly into points, they at least take shot opportunities off the Suns’ ledger and add to their own. This, as much as any tactical adjustment or personnel change, is what swings close affairs like Game 4. In at least one sense, Milwaukee has taken Phoenix out of its element, and the Suns must find a way to rediscover a central part of their identity.