By: Stephen Garner

Exactly how far are Trae Young and Giannis Antentokounmpo going to take their respective teams? 

At this point, both are riding high in morale following their wins in their Conference Finals matchups.

Now, they meet with a chance to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. It’s Milwaukee vs Atlanta.

Hawks

Rendered free of expectations on this stage, Nate McMillan and company have earned another chance to prove doubters wrong. 

Trae has been electric but needs to be more consistent this series. Toughest head-to-head matchup yet for him in All-NBA Defense First teamer Jrue Holiday. Of note, Trae has 12 straight 20 point scoring outings and Atlanta also won the last game without Trae vs Milwaukee. They’ll need his composure and for him to continue to master manipulate the pick and roll, as Milwaukee is sure to throw different looks at him and play physically with their size in the halfcourt.

Huerter has been great for them as well at times, showing poise and an ability to score from all three levels of the floor as well as operating off the dribble alongside Trae. He needs to do so with consistency in this series, however.

He made the absolute most of his extra touches sans Bogdanovic and, along with Collins and Capela, have Atlanta peaking at the right time.

Speaking of Atlanta’s bigs, the gravity those two have in rolling after their ball screens, opening up clean looks from the weak side for the likes of Huerter, Bogdanovic, or Gallinari will be crucial to open up the Bucks defense.

Those two also have the versatility and length to limit Giannis’ effectiveness in transition and stifle his looks at the rim in the halfcourt. They’ll need every bit of it to give themselves a chance here.

To Keep an Eye On:

Bogdanovic (listed as questionable) had to leave game six early and his services were limited (4 points in 21 minutes) in game seven due to his right knee. They’ll need a better version of his game six and seven versions to win this series. Also, remember the backstory here, he was set on being a Buck then issues ensued from the Bucks end in tampering, etc., so he ended up a Hawk. He’s their valued weapon & could have big revenge implications should he play. 

Will not retaining the Serbian wing come back to spurn Milwaukee?

They quietly have the third most effective defense (108.6) over the last two weeks.

Milwaukee

The Bucks are 5-0 at home in the postseason and fresh off eliminating the odds on favorite to win the Finals, on the road no less. 

Milwaukee has played solid basketball, linking the best defense over the past two weeks (102.8) with the fourth-best offense (110.0). 

Again without the services of Donte DiVincenzo, they’ll be more lenient upon the defense of Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton to stifle the compilation of guards Atlanta has.

Speaking of Middleton, he’s been on a tear. 

Over the latter five games of the last series, he averaged 28 PPG on 45/41/88 shooting with 8.6 RPG, 5 APG, and 2.6 SPG. He’s been downright dominant and has the edge over the wings of Atlanta.

However, two-time MVP and DPOY Giannis Antentokounmpo has all of the pressure on his shoulders here. 

Atlanta has the frontcourt pairing to, potentially, “limit” Giannis’ clean looks at the rim, but can they do so consistently is the looming question.

Milwaukee should benefit from Giannis not having a direct matchup from Atlanta. In their regular-season series, they tried numerous players on him, to no avail. He averaged 24 and 11 as they won the former two of their three matchups.

Of course, Lopez stretching the floor and pulling Capela away from the rim will be a running dynamic of the series, but Lopez trying to keep up with Capela’s rim-running and hyperactivity also pose an equal threat.

This will be a fun series, such contrasting styles almost always make for great entertainment.

Prediction

Bucks in 7

*All stats used come directly from basketball-reference.com or cleaningtheglass.com unless stated otherwise, and are accurate entering play on 6.23.21*