NBA Finals Game 5 preview: Suns’ necessary response vs. Bucks

PHOENIX — In only five postseason games this year has a team committed at least 15 turnovers while giving up 15 offensive rebounds or more.

That team’s opponent in four of those five games has been the Milwaukee Bucks, per Basketball-Reference.

So, the Suns getting up to 17 apiece in those two categories for the Game 4 loss is just part of what the Bucks do. But it’s not what Phoenix is known for at all, and that is the line in the sand we have reached in the 2021 NBA Finals.

Is a rugged, physical team that crashes the glass and forces mistakes just the wrong matchup for Phoenix? Or was this a case of some uncharacteristic Suns performances in the last two matchups?

It’s hard to believe it’s not the latter given what the Suns have made their identity under head coach Monty Williams and general manager James Jones.

Jones assembled an intelligent, hard-working group of guys that would be perfect for Williams to mold into the culture they wanted to establish for the organization.

Seventeen turnovers marked only the second time the Suns reached that number in the postseason, the first occurrence since Game 3 of the first round. In the regular season, the Suns were seventh-best in the league in the number of possessions they turned over.

Eleven of the 17 turnovers were live-ball turnovers, an outrageous number. A few of them were so bad that they essentially started the Bucks’ fastbreak for them.

That’s where fastbreak points and points off turnovers combined as one can be neutralized together.

As for the second-chance points on offensive rebounds, that’s just going back to the battle physically the Suns have to be better in.

Williams said after practice Friday that he did get the indication that those “self-inflicted” possessions were correctable after he watched ’em back.

“When you turn the ball over that many times with our group, it’s not something you typically see,” he said. “They got hands on (the) ball a few times, but a lot of it was things that, like I said at the end, we can correct.”

Paul had five turnovers in Game 4, bringing his total up to 15 in the last three games, an amount that has turned into a talking point for the series.

The point guard is not spending nearly as much time thinking about it compared to how much it is being discussed.

“It’s something I don’t dwell on,” Paul said. “Even though it may be an anomaly, it happens. I turned the ball over hella times before.”

Paul’s play in Game 4 is where we can discuss Game 5 adjustments, because if Paul looks the way he did in Milwaukee, the Suns will have to look elsewhere for more offense.

Outside of his scoring, Paul’s biggest individual contribution to Phoenix’s offense is his ability to set up Deandre Ayton in pick-and-roll, which is a consistent threat the defense reacts to.

That, oftentimes, results in helpers collapsing on the key and the Suns loading up from three-point range. But Phoenix only attempted 23 in Game 4, the third-lowest total for the Suns in a playoff game this season. They average 30.5 a game in the postseason after 34.6 in the regular season,

Paul on Wednesday wasn’t as aggressive scoring the ball as he normally is, especially when attacking opposing big men in mismatches. If that part of his game is compromised a bit by whatever is going on with him, the next step is him continuing his role as the primary conductor of the Suns’ ball movement.

He assisted five of the Suns’ seven 3s on Wednesday and can still generate those with the amount of attention his actions draw.

Williams said after Game 4 the Suns “certainly didn’t generate enough 3s,” and an adjustment for the Suns to combat the Bucks’ physicality could be bombing away more from deep.

Either way, as we covered earlier, the fashion of Paul’s turnovers was so out of place that at least his rhythm of floor vision and passing opportunities coming back at a higher rate in Game 5 would be a big boost.

And the Suns could look elsewhere more often too.

After Phoenix only mustered up 100 points in Game 3, its offense came out churning for Game 4, creating good look after good look to start the evening.

That included other initiators like Mikal Bridges and Devin Booker, and Booker could just be due for an even more heavy workload of the offense going forward.

The Suns’ offense finding a game-long flow might ultimately be what the series comes down, and it will be a requirement for Phoenix to win if the Bucks keep imposing their will in those aforementioned areas.

Follow @KellanOlson