Welcome to the NBA Finals that no one saw coming. It’s a matchup that should be filled with excitement and unless your sports fandom is determined solely around a multitude of superstar sightings, it’s going to be tremendous. The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks earned the right to play for the grandest prize in basketball in a variety of ways. They did it through imagination, resiliency, perseverance, innovation and a willingness to step up when needed. They did it by staying healthy (enough) when others couldn’t at the end of a tightly-packed, COVID-condensed, 72-game season that tested the boundaries of effective rest. Now, at the end of it, comes a chance that most suspected would fall to other, more prestigious candidates, like the Los Angeles Lakers or the Brooklyn Nets, who, not incidentally, the Suns and Bucks respectively dispatched along the way. At the start of the campaign, no one was taking the Bucks too seriously after a pair of postseason disappointments and no one was talking about the Suns at all, given their recent barren years in the loaded Western Conference. Such lowly expectations can have a liberating effect and the absence of burden can give a season the feeling of a freeroll. That feeling ends now. Now, all eyes are upon them. Now, the concept of “nothing to lose” no longer applies. Now, it just got really serious. For an opportunity beckons for both Phoenix and Milwaukee that neither can be sure will ever come again. This might be the time, the best shot – and only one of them can capture it. Sure, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the Bucks figure to be a factor for years to come. They have been outstanding in the regular season and Antetokounmpo won back-to-back MVPs in the two years prior to this one. Even so, a fully healthy Nets team would still be strong favorites to improve their stock a year from now and even the best-case scenario for the Bucks doesn’t necessarily see them cutting a swath through the East, year upon year. A lot of good players have played a lot of seasons without even making it as far as the conference finals. Assuming that opportunities for triumph will reappear, time and again, is a fool’s errand. Just ask Chris Paul, the Suns’ veteran point guard who now gets his go at pulling down an NBA crown after 16 years of trying. The Suns have been the most effervescent and arguably the most enjoyable story of the hoops year, but there is no certainty they suddenly become a dominant perpetual powerhouse in the West. Even with Devin Booker emerging as one of the finest players on the planet, the Lakers, Clippers, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks are all gearing up to gain back control next season. The Suns’ time, engineered by Paul, powered by Booker and a fine supporting cast, could be now. “That’s the only teammate that really pushed me, big bro type push,” Phoenix center Deandre Ayton said in reference to Paul. “He’s the best thing that happened to my career.” The young, enterprising, eyes-wide-open Suns might be the best thing to happen to Paul as well, a group of utterly unjaded players eager to soak up his knowledge and lean on his experience. If this thing gets close and a title is there for the taking, who is going to be more nervous – Paul or his teammates? That’s not a question for now, perhaps, but it may soon be. One of the lingering plotlines hanging above the series is the injury status of Antetokounmpo, who went down with a hyperextended knee in Game 4 of the conference finals. Middleton marshaled the troops for Games 5 and 6 but the availability of the Greek Freak could be a decisive factor in the series. “The Bucks can survive Giannis missing two games,” FS1’s Nick Wright said on “First Things First.” “If Giannis is back by Game 3, the Bucks will win the title. They can survive falling down 2-0. This year, for all its injuries and upheaval, the one part that could make it all make sense, would be if the two-time MVP … propelled (himself) to being a champion.” The Suns are -250 favorites to win Game 1, with the Bucks at +190, per FOX Bet. For the championship, Phoenix clocks in at -182, with Milwaukee at +155, though that could change quickly based off early results and updates on Antetokounmpo. In truth, it is an evenly matched series that could be swayed by small intricate factors, which only adds to the intrigue. And perhaps the greatest one of all pervades – who will be able to handle the pressure? Because the pressure is there, all the time, just a different kind of pressure to what we’re used to seeing. It is not the burden of living up to past franchise greats – the Suns have never won an NBA title and the Bucks haven’t done so in 50 years. It is, instead, the opposite. It’s the reality that this is a rare shot at glory and a special opportunity, perhaps a one-off. Who keeps their composure amid that singular truth, and pounces upon the chance rather than be cowed by it, may find this time is theirs. Here’s what others have said … San Quinn, CBS Sports: “Championships … are earned through intentional risks. The Bucks and the Suns went for it, and as a result, one of them is going to win the title.” Shannon Sharpe, Undisputed: “If you have Giannis, I believe it’s a coin flip but slightly favoring Phoenix. Without Giannis, I give them a chance, but a very slim chance, to beat the Suns.” Brandon Marshall, FOX Sports: “The Bucks don’t have a chance in the NBA Finals — with or without Giannis. This series is over!” |
