2021 NBA Finals Preview: Phoenix Suns vs Milwaukee Bucks
Who would have thought? Who would have thought that the Phoenix Suns or the Milwaukee Bucks would be in the 2021 NBA Finals? Forget that! Who would have thought that Lebron or Kevin Durant would be watching the finals from home? This has been the craziest NBA Playoffs up to date…
To start off, lets take a look at each conference rivals these two teams have faced:
Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns’ Run was an unexpected one all the way starting from the first round. On May 23rd the Phoenix Suns (second seed) faced of against LeBron and Ad’s Los Angeles Lakers (seventh seed). Everyone already had their bold predictions that LeBron would carry one of his lowest seeded teams to the second round and potentially the finals. That was until the “underdog” Suns figured out how to shut down the Lakers, with strong and promising Playoff Debut performances by Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton. After those strong performances, the gates towards the NBA Finals looked a lot brighter as they swept the Denver Nuggets and eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers in 6 games to reach the final.
It’s safe to say that not only Ayton and Booker had strong performances, but Chris Paul, with his leadership, taking this team to places no fan or team in the NBA would have expected. Everywhere Chris Paul touched ground, that team immediately got better. “Point God” was certainly an asset that Phoenix will appreciate for many years down the road, reaching their third final in their history (first one since 1993).
Milwaukee Bucks
First finals since 1974 and nobody expected it to end this year. The Milwaukee Bucks were basically an upset from the first round right until the end vs the Hawks. Analysts thought the Bucks were going to choke vs Miami Heat, exactly as the Bubble series, and a Giannis press conference before the series started had fans speculate if the Bucks are still haunted by Jimmy Butler’s heroics last year. Fast forward to the Eastern Conference Semi Finals, the Bucks had just swept the Miami Heat, and now face the highly favored Brooklyn Nets. The “Super Team” led by three all stars in the name of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving were favored to win it all, but injuries weren’t on their side as both Harden and Irving went down in the early games of the series. Not even Kevin Durant heroics in Game 5 could hold down the powerful defense/offense from Milwaukee, as they eliminated the Nets in 7 games.
Adding defense, plus an extra offensive player into a Bucks team that desperately needed it, Jrue Holiday’s addition to the team was incredible. They recently faced a Hawks team that was not expected to be there in the first place. Although the Hawks didn’t have Trae Young for two games, Milwaukee lost their star Giannis Antetokounmpo for the last two games of the series due to a hyper-extended knee injury, but hopefully he will be available for the Finals vs the Phoenix Suns as the Bucks won in 6 games vs the Hawks.
Phoenix vs Milwaukee Predictions
Previously, this season, Milwaukee and Phoenix only faced twice. Both times Phoenix won only by one point… ONE. This surely gives you an idea on how close this series will be. Below I would preview my predictions for this series, but it should be noted that I’m NOT an analyst, I just watch a lot of Basketball games and hopefully I predict the right outcome.
I personally think this series will go to 7 games. It fits the narrative perfectly, the narrative of supposedly it being the lamest NBA Finals since their is no Lebron James, Stephen Curry, or even the Nets Big Three, to it potentially beating the expectations of everyone with a game 7 thriller in Phoenix on an electrifying crowd.
Although the Suns are favored to win the championship, if Milwaukee get Giannis back early in this series, I really think the Bucks could win their first championship since ’74 because of their strong defense. Jrue, Giannis, Brook, PJ, and even Khris know how to defend, and that could be a very difficult task to handle for the likes of Booker who only really attacks. But it won’t be easy for the Bucks, since the Suns also have a great team and a team which is more than motivated to bring the first chip to the city of Phoenix. Besides this team, the Suns have something the Bucks don’t have: A 16 year veteran named Chris Paul, who is on the search for his first chip that could potentially punch his ticket on the Hall of Fame (although I think he already did).
Both teams have something to play for, and this is exactly the finals matchup I wanted to happen: Two unexpected teams, filled with stars who are eager to win, and having either CP3 or Giannis leaving with their first career NBA Ring. I think his will be one of the greatest finals, and hope nobody misses it as we are entering the new generation of the NBA…