NBA Finals Diary #6: Road Game Rally Inside Phoenix Suns Arena
One of the cool things about these finals has been the ABC cut-ins to the watch party in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. For those who don’t know, recently teams in the playoffs have been hosting “watch parties” from their home stadiums when their teams play on the road. For a nominal fee, fans can attend in a playoff atmosphere and watch the game on the big screen.
This by all accounts was an incredible atmosphere. This is exactly what we were missing last year in the bubble. Fans make sports great.
Both Watch Parties sold out in Milwaukee so fast they had to open an outdoor section called “The Deer District”
25,000 PEOPLE were in the Deer District outside the forum for Game 2. That’s UNREAL. Those are just the people who couldn’t get tickets inside the arena for the watch party.
So when Phoenix announced they were going to host their own Watch Party at Phoenix Suns Arena, I knew I had to be in attendance just for the experience. Tickets went on sale for $10 and yep, it sold out REALLY fast. In a matter of minutes.
I was fortunate enough to get a ticket so I’ll be covering Game 3 from the arena once again. And probably from the same spot I was at in the arena for games 1 and 2. Section 203 where it gets HYPE.
What to expect tonight? It’s do or die for the Bucks. It’s been said that one of the hardest things to do in the NBA playoffs is to beat a team three times in a row, and that’s the problem facing the Suns right now. The other problem?
It’s a Scott Foster game, and CP3 is 0-11 when he’s reffed a playoff game Chris Paul has played in.
If you’re a Suns fan, you’re thinking conspiracy. If you’re a Bucks fan, you’re celebrating. If you’re a gambler, you are hammering the under 221.5.
For Giannis? He was a warrior in Game 2 and people are saying this is the biggest game of his entire career.
For Chris Paul? It’s the biggest game of the year, and probably the biggest game of his career as well. “We got to be us and the hungrier team.”
So there is a lot at stake tonight, and a lot of it rests on Mike Budenholzer’s shoulders. A coach not noted for making adjustments in the playoffs is going to have to find a way to not just neutralize CP3 and Booker, but also find a way to keep the Suns role players from torching them again from three. If the Suns shoot anywhere near 50% from three again?
Night night.
As we know, there is something about the air and the humidity in Milwaukee. It’s the most humid in the country. Players that cook at home seem to brick at Fiserv. If you’re looking for player props, I’d take the under on 3s for role players on the Suns given how bad every single road team has shot in Milwaukee this postseason.
Here are some props I like:
Jae Crowder is +100 for u2.5 threes
Mikal Bridges is +125 u1.5 threes
Brook Lopez is +112 O12.5 points
Cameron Payne +106 O6.5 points
Kris Middleton +500 Top Scorer in the game (that is disrespectful at home)
If Kris gets going early, he’ll be the one they feed the ball to especially in late game situations. I love those odds even though I could easily see Kris having another dud game.
He has led the team in scoring 7 times in the playoffs alone and they need a GREAT game from him in order to avoid #Sunsin4.
Follow along on social media at @ThisLeague and @Trysta_Krick on TikTok and Twitter for Game 3 updates all night long.
For those interested here’s a recap I cut of just a few of the moments we captured and put on social from Game 2:
Thanks to everyone for following along in Games 1 and 2. Over a million video views across the This League social network.
The bottom line is this: until the Bucks prove they can make adjustments? I’m sticking with my original opinion: