NBA Finals Game 4 preview: Phoenix Suns’ response, Giannis’ wall

MILWAUKEE — Looking at it from a perspective of before the game gets underway, we have arrived at the Phoenix Suns’ most important contest in franchise history thus far.

We’ll see if there’s another in a few days that tops it, but for now, the Suns hold a 2-1 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals and that makes Game 4 massive.

The organization’s two other appearances in the Finals never resulted in them leading the series. The closest Phoenix got was in 1976 when it was tied 2-2 going back to Boston for Game 5.

Now, the Suns will either take a commanding 3-1 advantage with two home games left, or the series will be squared up and the stakes will get even higher for Saturday’s Game 5.

Wednesday’s Game 4 is one that warrants a response from the Suns.

The 120-100 loss in Game 3 was an uncharacteristically poor effort in all the little things that have played a big part in making them such a great team.

Think less about strictly energy and more about using energy to execute when watching some of these baskets from the Bucks in the first quarter.

If you noticed a theme in those buckets, I am very proud of you! If not, watch ’em back and pick it out. It’s OK. We will wait for you here.

Hey, you’re back! So, did you see it?

Yes, those were three of Giannis Antetokounpo’s six assists on the night for Milwaukee. In all three, you can see the Suns failing defensively in a way that makes things so much easier on the Bucks.

In the first clip, Jae Crowder goes to pick up Antetokounmpo in semi-transition instead of going to Jrue Holiday in the corner, because Mikal Bridges defending a downhill Antetokounmpo would not end well.

The second has Crowder and Devin Booker goof a switch, as both stay on Holiday, and Deandre Ayton gets caught watching that while Antetokounmpo flies by him and the other two for an easy drop-off to Brook Lopez.

Lastly, Ayton goes to contain an Antetokounmpo drive and Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis rightfully recognizes that and makes a good backdoor cut.

Those little breakdowns all tie back to defensive lapses involving Antetokounmpo, which can happen from time to time. But that represents as a whole how the Suns played that night, and honestly, it’s been rare to even use the word “breakdowns” for them given how rock-solid they’ve been all year.

To go back to Antetokounmpo, Suns head coach Monty Williams before practice Tuesday had mentioned that Holiday 3-ball as a “bad transition defensive lapse.”

Off that, Williams was asked about the delicate balance between containing Antetokounmpo but not as a detriment to the entire structure of the defense.

“Yeah, it’s not delicate at all. It’s a hard truth that you have to do both,” he said. “You have to be able to show a wall, but also have the integrity of your defense intact on the other side. … You have to do both. There’s no in-between with this team. When you can do both, you can have success.”

We’ve heard Williams and the Suns players refer to that “wall” they need to create to not allow Antetokounmpo in the paint as easily. It’s a fairly common term, but one that has been reinforced time after time with The Greek Freak.

Antetokounmpo said Tuesday he started seeing what he referred to as the “Giannis Wall” two years ago, something that opens up his little-discussed playmaking game.

“It’s kind of hard, because you want to be effective, you want to get downhill, you want to do everything, but now you also — and you take it personal also,” he said. “There’s a team that’s building the wall of three people and two guys behind and trying to stop you. Now you have to not take it personal and make the right play, find the right guy. I feel like I did that better since two years ago now. I’m doing it better. I’m finding, I’m trusting my teammates. I’m finding guys.

“But I was always a capable passer before the wall was created, which is funny that there’s a defense out there called the Giannis Wall. It’s funny to me, you know? So it’s crazy.”

In the last five seasons, Antetokounmpo is averaging over five assists a game and was nearly at six this regular season. He’s a two-time MVP, and that’s what two-time MVPs can do.

But what the Suns themselves can do is limit those mistakes to not allow Antetokounmpo to beat the Suns by being both a world-beater in the paint and someone who can make life easier for his teammates. They can live with Antetokounmpo getting 40 points a game, something they proved in the Game 2 win when he had 42.

In an unrelated example, a Suns turnover led to them getting crossmatched defensively and allowed the Bucks’ Khris Middleton to get this bucket:

After that and a free throw, Middleton, a player struggling with his rhythm through two games, hit his next shot like so:

I’m not here to say Middleton doesn’t drill that pull-up if he doesn’t get that and-one, but sometimes those mistakes can go beyond just affecting one play.

Most of Game 3 was circumstances like that where the Suns were making the game harder on themselves than they normally do.

That was there offensively too, where Booker attempted half of his shots from three-point range for a 3-of-14 output overall and 1-of-7 at range.

Given the shots Booker makes, is capable of and chooses to take, it is hard to almost ever find one that is worthy of being labeled bad.

To bring back up a consistent point on Booker, he rarely sees daylight, so I’m not going to go there on these, but they could certainly be improved on.

He attempted five of his seven long balls in the first quarter, an indication that he was perhaps pressing a bit. Three were off the dribble.

Booker’s percentages on pull-up 3s have always been baffling considering how good of a shooter he is in the midrange and, more generally speaking, how gorgeous of a shot he has.

Booker shot 30.8% on them this season after 33.8% last year and 29.1% the season prior. The number is at 32.5% in the postseason as well.

That is the reason you don’t see his overall three-point percentage in the high 30s every year where it should be and where it was in 2017-18 when he shot 36.4% on 3s off the bounce to reach 38.3% overall.

That’s a long-winded way of saying to expect him to get back to more of his bread and butter in Game 4, and that Williams will deploy him in better spots to do so.

Follow @KellanOlson