The NBA Finals continue on Friday with the Phoenix Suns once again hosting the Milwaukee Bucks. We hit on our best bet in Game 1 and are confident we have another winner on the way for Game 2. Good luck to everyone following!
2020-21 NBA Finals Betting Tips: Game 2
Milwaukee Bucks at Phoenix Suns
PHX Arena, Friday 11am AEST
Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals is in the books with the Phoenix Suns taking the initiative and going ahead 1-0 in this best-of-seven series. Both teams looked at home in the Finals despite not a single player on either team’s roster having Championship experience. The Suns finished up with a 118-105 win on their home floor after leading at the end of each quarter.
The Suns offence was rolling in Game 1 with all three of their stars in Chris Paul (32 points), Devin Booker (27 points) and DeAndre Ayton (22 points) finding their rhythm. Paul was especially spectacular scoring the ball considering he finished the first quarter scoreless and still ended up with 32 points along with nine assists.
There weren’t a whole lot of positives for the Bucks on Wednesday, but one of the obvious ones is the health of Giannis Antetokounmpo who was fit enough to play and looked to possess his normal athleticism. The only other real positive for the Bucks was their three-point shooting (16/36 44%) where they remained a constant threat throughout the game.
From our point of view, the major difference between these teams in Game 1 was how well they scouted their opponents. The Suns knew they could get Brook Lopez to switch onto Paul or Booker anytime they wanted and both of those guys were aggressive and dominant whenever they got the mismatch. Naturally, the Bucks will make some big adjustments ahead of Game 2, which should help them be more successful in their pick-and-roll and switch defence. As a result of that, we expect a lower scoring game that will fall under the current total points line of 219.5.
Same Game Multi
We just missed with our SGM in Game 1 by hitting on 2/3 legs, but are confident we can find a winner in Game 2. First up we’ll be taking Mikal Bridges to score 10+ Points. Bridges struggled to get looks in the last series against the Clippers, but he’s coming off a fantastic season and had 13 shots in Game 1 on Wednesday which is really promising. Secondly, we’ll be on Brook Lopez to score under 12.5 points. Lopez shot the ball well in Game 1 to finish with 17 points, but the way he was abused in the pick-and-rolls on defence saw him play very little time in the second half, which we expect to be a similar theme on Friday with the Bucks making some rotational changes. Last but not least, we’ll be including Khris Middleton to score 20+ points. He had 26 shots in Game 1 with the Suns putting a lot of their focus on the Greek Freak, so look for Middleton to have another good night scoring the ball.
- Mikal Bridges 10+ Points
- Brook Lopez Under 12.5 Points
- Khris Middleton 20+ Points