Suns Claim the Advantage in NBA Finals

Chris Paul scored 32 points and made nine assists to help his team record a 118-105 victory, and he showed no signs of nerves in the first NBA Finals appearance of his 16-year-career.

With the Suns now leading 1-0, can they go and dominate? Or will the Bucks fire back in Game Two and make it a series to remember for the fans?

Momentum Key for the Suns

Even their biggest fans will have been shocked to see both the Bucks and the Suns reach this stage of the competition, but they took full advantage of a healthy locker room.

While the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets suffered badly with injury problems, the Suns have shown real progress over the last 18 months.

Monty Williams’ team just missed out on the playoffs at the end of the 2019/20 campaign, with the Suns winning eight games on the spin.

Paul’s arrival in the off-season has been crucial to their improvement, but his relationship with Devin Booker has also brought the best out of the latter.

While the Suns have continued to improve as the weeks ticked by, the Bucks have had to do it the hard way in the playoffs.

Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a knee injury against the Atalanta Hawks, but he did return for Wednesday’s defeat to the Suns.

If Antetokounmpo isn’t firing on all cylinders for the first few games of the series, the Bucks could be left behind, and it looks like the value lies with a Suns win.

The Bucks have too much firepower and heart to go down without a fight, and a Suns 4-2 series win appeals at 17/4.

If punters believe the series will contain six games, it also makes sense to back a six-game series at 23/10.

The Time is Now for Paul

Point guard Paul has had an incredible career so far in the NBA, but he is still waiting for his first Finals win.

As mentioned earlier, the current final series is the first of his career, and even though he is in unchartered waters, he has the experience to come out on top.

Paul led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs before he moved to Phoenix, and he has already been named an NBA All-Star on 11 occasions. He won the All-Star MVP award in 2013 and has what it takes to win this finals MVP at odds of 10/13.

In the Suns’ closeout semi-final match against the LA Clippers, Paul scored 31 of his 41 points in the second half.

That was the biggest scoring half of his career, and he should cover the over 23.3 line in game two at odds of 20/23.

*All odds correct at time of writing

Momentum Key for the Suns

The Time is Now for Paul

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