National Basketball Association

Suns still have edge in NBA Finals, but turnovers, Booker's shooting a concern

Published Jul. 12, 2021 1:07 a.m. ET

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Nothing worth having comes easy, and the Phoenix Suns found that out the hard way in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

After cruising to relatively easy wins in the first two games of the series, the Suns were brought back down to Earth in a 120-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3.

For the Suns, this continued the trend of them struggling in Game 3s of playoff series this postseason.

They are 1-3 in Game 3s this postseason. The silver lining in all of this, though, is that they are 3-0 in Game 4's.

For more up-to-date news on all things Suns, click here to register for alerts on the FOX Sports app!

And if they want to improve that number to 4-0 on Wednesday in Milwaukee, they will need a better effort from their All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker.

Booker was just 3-for-14 from the field on his way to 10 points on Sunday, his lowest scoring total so far in these playoffs.

And while the Suns have a 2-1 series lead, this hasn't been a particularly sterling series for Booker thus far, as he is shooting just 35.8% from the field and 28.4% from 3-point range.

"There are nights like that," Booker said following the game. "And the most important part is winning the game and we didn't do that. You know I'm more frustrated about that."

While Booker struggled, his shooting wasn't the only issue for the Suns in Game 3.

As a team, they committed 14 turnovers, which continues a negative trend so far through the series.

After just nine miscues in Game 1, the Suns have turned it over 12 and 14 times respectively over the last two games.

On Sunday night, the majority of those turnovers came in the second quarter, when the Bucks outscored the Suns 35-17.

Now the Suns will head back to the drawing board and try to figure out a way to counter the Bucks' punch in Game 3.

How they respond could determine whether they head back to Phoenix with a chance to close this series out, or whether they will find themselves in a tied series.

"We have a few days off here and we're gonna get back right," Booker said. "We're going to go over film and be ready Wednesday."

For more up-to-date news on all things NBA, click here to register for alerts on the FOX Sports app!

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