Suns let it fly from deep to start Finals Game 2 vs. Bucks

It was a sluggish start for the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Not only that, but the Milwaukee Bucks were preying on Phoenix’s players feeling happy on the farm with a 1-0 series lead. Milwaukee clearly put an emphasis on packing the paint.

Yet, the Suns led 56-45 at the half by going 11-of-24 from three. They got three three-pointers apiece from Mikal Bridges (13 points) and Jae Crowder (9), plus two treys from each of Devin Booker and Cam Johnson.

Phoenix trailed 29-26 after a quarter, but Milwaukee came out with a different mindset compared to a 118-105 Game 1 loss.

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer put star guard Jrue Holiday on Suns point guard Chris Paul to disrupt Phoenix’s offensive flow, and from there Milwaukee threw bodies at every drive or pick-and-roll run by Paul or Devin Booker.

What that allowed was a lot of open threes for Phoenix, which shot 8-of-14 from deep in the first quarter.

The Suns outscored the Bucks 21-6 from beyond the arc in the first 12 minutes.

But they also played lackadaisical defense, getting outscored in the paint 20-0 through the first quarter.

Both the number of threes hit and the paint differential ranked second-most in history for a quarter in a Finals game over the past 25 years, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Here’s how that discrepancy looked as a visual.

Phoenix cut into that paint deficit with 14 paint points to six in the second quarter to overall trail 26-14 in that regard at half.

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