Bucks vs. Suns Odds, Game 2 Preview, Picks, & Prediction (Thu., July 8)

Sloan Piva Thu 7/8 7:48am PT

Bucks vs. Suns Odds Game 2

The odds for Game 2 of the NBA Finals are out at online sportsbooks! NBA betting analyst Sloan Piva is here to break things down before the Bucks and Suns tip off Thursday night.

Phoenix Suns

Nearly 182 months have passed since Chris Paul won the NBA Rookie of the Year in May 2006, the start of a decorated 16-year run of effortlessly dominant point guard play. On Tuesday, the 10-time All-NBA selection played his first NBA Finals game. He did not disappoint. The wise veteran leader of his exciting young Suns squad, CP3 scored 32 points and dropped nine dimes as Phoenix drew first blood with a convincing 118-105 win. The Suns now look to extend a 2-0 Finals lead over Milwaukee, a championship round deficit that only four teams have come back from in NBA history.

So far this postseason, this sure feels like Paul’s moment in history. The 11-time All-Star and nine-time All-Defensive selection has paced his Suns team masterfully, and orchestrated Monty Williams’ offense with brilliance. His midrange scoring accuracy has started to look a lot like that of Kawhi Leonard in his two respective Finals runs—he cannot be contained when he gets to his spots. Play off him to cut down his driving lanes, and he’ll pull up and knock down a trey like he did four times in Game 1. And, if you dare double him, or cheat when he penetrates, he will easily find the open man.

Oftentimes, that open man is Devin Booker, the Robin to CP3’s Batman. The young superstar scorer poured in 27 points of his own Tuesday (including 10-of-10 from the line), to go with six assists and three steals. Booker played aggressively all game, which more than made up for his shooting 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

But this Suns squad is more than just an All-Star backcourt. Deandre Ayton, who many considered a bust in his first two years after getting picked No. 1 over Luka Doncic and Trae Young, has made GM James Jones look like a genius. The big man scored 22 points and grabbed a whopping 19 rebounds in Game 1, a mammoth task against the NBA’s best rebounding team.

Hell, even young three-and-D forward Mikal Bridges chipped in 14 points, one of six Suns who finished in double-figures and one of four Suns to hit two treys. Williams’ squad played superb team basketball on both sides of the floor—and made so many great decisions with the basketball (18 assists to just nine turnovers)—fans barely realized that Jae Crowder went 0-of-8 from the floor and Dario Saric tore his ACL.

The most impressive part of the Suns’ start-to-finish dominance in Game 1: they made 25-of-26 free throws on the night (96.2%). Meanwhile, Milwaukee shot just 9-of-16 from the line (56.3%). That’s a foul-line disparity worse than we saw when the Golden State Warriors swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 Finals.

Milwaukee Bucks

The good news for Milwaukee: two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo returned just a week after hyper-extending his knee in the Eastern Conference Finals. Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer attributed the five-time All-NBA and four-time All-Defensive selection’s quick recovery to his rigorous strength and conditioning program. But Giannis was not strong enough to best the Suns on Tuesday—while he did grab 17 boards, he scored just 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting across 35 minutes.

Still, the Bucks are a resilient team with a great coach in Budenholzer. I don’t expect Milwaukee to pull off the upset in Game 2, but I do like its chances to at least cover the +5.5. If Bud makes the proper adjustments, Giannis feels a bit closer to 100 percent, and point guard Jrue Holiday shoots better than 4-of-14 (and 0-of-4 from deep) for 10 points, the Bucks should keep it much closer than they did in Game 1.

Milwaukee has a lot of positives to pinpoint from its first NBA Finals game since 1974. The Bucks outrebounded the Suns, finished with more assists, and shot over 12 percent better from long range. If the Greek Freak had played 10 more minutes, and kicked things into high gear, the outcome might have been much different.

Suns vs. Bucks Picks & Predictions

Of course, Holiday will have to do a better job on both ends of the court for Milwaukee to have a chance. Forget about the woeful shooting performance Tuesday—the three-time All-Defensive guard was also getting torched by CP3 and Book. He needs to fight through high screen-and-rolls and stay in front of his assignments, or Phoenix will simply ride into the sunset quicker than anyone imagined.

Will Budenholzer play Brook Lopez for longer than 22 minutes, and utilize the veteran’s giant presence down low? Will Giannis defer to Holiday and Khris Middleton as the ball-dominant playmakers? Will Lopez and Bobby Portis stop getting stuck guarding two of the 15 best playmakers and shooters in the NBA? Only time will tell.

I personally think Bud will learn from Milwaukee’s countless mistakes from Game 1. And while I don’t see Phoenix losing on Thursday, I do think the Bucks will cover, and bring some positive energy and invigoration back to Wisconsin for their two-game home set.

Pick: Bucks +5.5