J-Speaks: 2021 NBA Finals Preview

While the 2021 NBA Finals maybe a little bit different because of the participants being relatively new, the same kind of excitement and enthusiasm from the fanbases of both teams will be at a fever pitch. But like this entire 2021 NBA Playoffs where injuries to star players has been at the forefront, it will be just the same to start the championship round. This NBA Finals will also be a legacy closer for the two headliners involved. Here is the J-Speaks 2021 NBA Finals Preview.

Since the turn of the century, the NBA Finals have featured the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, the then New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets, Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, and Golden State Warriors at least twice. Since the 2000 Finals, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson Kawhi Leonard, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, and the late Kobe Bryant have taken over the small screen during this time of the NBA season.

For the first time in a little over two decades will there be two different squads competing for the Larry O’Brien trophy, but we will have two different headlining stars on both sides with the Eastern Conference champion Milwaukee Bucks led by two-time Kia MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns led by 11-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection, and nine-time NBA All-Defensive team selection Chris Paul, who will be making his first Finals appearance in his 16-year NBA career.

For the Eastern Conference champion Bucks, this will be their third appearance in The Finals and their first since 1974, when they lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games when the Bucks were a part of the Western Conference. Their lone championship came in 1971 as Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor then) and Oscar Robertson led them to a 4-0 sweep against the then Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards).

This will also be the third time in The Finals for the Western Conference champion Suns, will play for the Larry O’Brien trophy, their first since 1993 when Kia MVP from that season in Hall of Famer and current NBA on TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley led them Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals, where they lost to fellow Hall of Famer and five-time Kia MVP Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 4-2.

Two things can be expected in this Finals tilt, a lot of scoring and down to the wire games.

Bucks led the NBA in scoring at 120.1 points per game, registering a franchise record 120 points or more 41 times during regular season. The Suns ranked No. 7 in “The Association” in scoring average at 115.3 points per contest.

Only the Nets (49.4 percent) had a higher field goal percentage during the regular season then the 49.0 percent from the field average by the Suns, who were slightly ahead of the Bucks who ranked No. 3 in field percentage at 48.7 percent.

The Bucks ranked No. 5 in three-point percentage during the regular season, while the Suns were No. 7 at 37.8 percent from three-point range.

During the regular season, the Suns took both meetings each by one point, winning 125-124 at home over the Bucks on Feb. 10 on ESPN, and 128-127 at the Bucks in overtime on Apr. 19.

The final margin of victory each time was determined by a free throw by Suns’ Devin Booker, who split a pair at the foul line with 33 seconds left in the first matchup, and the Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo missing a pull-up 20-foot jumper with 02.8 seconds left in regulation. The second matchup Booker hit the game-winning free throw after he was fouled by the Bucks P.J. Tucker with 00.3 seconds left in the extra period. The Bucks were without Antetokounmpo the final 4:02 of OT because of cramping in his leg.

Antetokounmpo averaged 40.0 points and 9.5 rebounds on 60 percent from the field in the season series against the Suns. The 40-point average by Antetokounmpo on 60 percent shooting are the highest marks in a single regular season against the Suns since Jordan averaged 42 points on 60 percent from the field in the two tilts against the Suns in 1992-93 season.

Booker averaged 27.0 points in the two games in the regular season against the Bucks.

While the short-term journey gets a lot of the headlines in how the Bucks and Suns reached The Finals for the first time in 47 and 28 years respectably, there is more to the Bucks’ and Suns’ paths that has both squads just four wins away from calling themselves NBA champions.

Prior to breaking through in the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals by defeating the Atlanta Hawks in six games, the Bucks after back-to-back stellar regular seasons compiling the best record in the league lost in the East Semifinals to the Miami Heat 4-1 in the 2020 Playoffs and falling in six games to the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors the year before in the East Finals.

The Bucks prior to this three-year run, made the postseason nine times, falling in the First-Round eight of those nine times. They reached the East Finals in 2001 led by Hall of Famer Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, and Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, and head coach George Karl, but fell to Hall of Famer Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games.

Just seven years ago, the Bucks were one of the worst teams in the NBA going just 15-67 in 2013-14 campaign.

Led by the ownership group of Wes Edens, Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan, and Mike Frascitelli, and General Manager Jon Horst, the Bucks built the team into a title contender from scratch from building the proper roster that could compete for a championship to finding the right coach, who could assemble a coaching staff that could get that roster to play at a championship level. 

It began with the drafting of Antetokounmpo No. 15 overall in 2013. The acquisition of Khris Middleton from the Detroit Pistons on July 13, 2013. On May 17, 2018, they hired former Hawks head coach and longtime Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer as their new head coach, who led the Hawks to the East Finals three years earlier. Signed Brook Lopez in free agency on July 17, 2018. Drafting Donte DiVincenzo No. 17 overall in 2018 out of Villanova, who will not play in The Finals because of an injury sustained in First-Round against the Heat. Signing in free agency reserve swingman Pat Connaughton on August 1, 2018.

The moves that put the Bucks in position to win it all came this past offseason with the acquisition of All-Star floor general Jrue Holiday on Nov. 24, 2020, in a four-team deal that involved the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder. They signed sharp-shooter Bryn Forbes two days after acquiring Holiday as well as signed Bobby Portis in free agency. On Mar. 19, the Bucks acquired P.J. Tucker from the Houston Rockets to bring toughness and three-point shooting.

Unlike the regular season, where they compiled the best-record in “The Association” the past two seasons, the Bucks used this past regular season to tinker with their style of play on both ends to be more prepared for the postseason.

It all came together the first three rounds of the 2021 Playoffs as the Bucks took down the Heat 4-0 in the First Round, winning by an average of 20.5 points. They overcame a 2-0 series deficit in the East Semis against the Nets to win the series in seven games as Antetokounmpo registered at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in 6 of the 7 games. In the East Finals, the Bucks lost Antetokounmpo in the third quarter of Game 4 with a hyperextended left knee. Led by Middleton, Holiday, and Lopez, the Bucks won Game 5 123-112 and Game 6 at the Hawks 118-107 to win the Eastern Conference and punch their ticket to The Finals.

“It’s been a long journey. But it’s been a great journey. It’s been worth it,” Middleton, who scored 23 of his game-high 32 points in the Game 6 clincher on 10 for 22 shooting, including 4 for 10 from three-point range said postgame about the Bucks journey to The Finals. “After winning 15 games my first year here to seven years not making the playoffs, to the last two years thinking we had a chance, and we just didn’t do enough. And now we’re here.”

Middleton, who scored 16 straight points in the third quarter of Game 6 that helped to create some distance for the Bucks, with Holiday contributing 11 points of his own in the period.

As great as Middleton was in Game 6 as well as in Game 5 with 26 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, two steals on 10 for 20 shooting, Holiday and Lopez really took their personal games up a few notches the last two games of the East Finals.

In Game 5 Lopez registered a game-high, season-high and playoff career-high 33 points on 14 for 18 from the floor with seven rebounds and four blocks, scoring 26 of those 33 points in the paint, his most since scoring 30 paint points in a game in Feb. 2016 for the Nets. The Bucks behind Lopez outscored the Hawks in the paint 66-36 in the paint in Game 5.

After registering 25 points, 13 assists and six rebounds in the Bucks wire-to-wire victory in Game 5, Holiday scored 17 of his 27 points in the second half to go along with nine assists, nine rebounds, four steals, and two block shots on 11 for 23 from the field, making four three-pointers in the Game 6 clincher at the Hawks.

“I just thought there was a need,” Holiday, who will be playing in his first Finals in his 12^th NBA season told ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump” crew of Rachel Nichols, Richard Jefferson, and Kendrick Perkins about his approach in Games 5 and 6 of East Finals against the Hawks without Antetokounmpo. “Giannis does so much for us. He attacks the basket, gets into the paint, get fouls. He makes plays out of it too. And defensively, he does so much for us as well.”

“So, I felt like somebody needed to step up, and I figured that should be me. I kept on hearing my vet [Perkins] tell me to step up. So, I had to do what I had to do.”

The Bucks as a whole team did what they needed to do, which has not always been the case not just this postseason at times, but in their flameouts the previous two postseasons.

There were times where they gave the ball to Antetokounmpo and waited for him to make things happen, especially when he initiated the offense from the top of the three-point line.

There have been times this postseason, where the Bucks settled for three-point shots instead of attacking the paint where they had a huge advantage.

Without Antetokounmpo on the floor, the Bucks took the ownness as a team to be better on both ends of the floor. Playing on a string as a team. The result, taking down the aforementioned Hawks where they were a plus-40 in points in the paint (338-240) for the series.

“We’re just a team that’s trying to play unselfish, trying to do it as a committee,” Middleton said at Finals Media Day on Monday. “When Giannis is out there, a lot of times we can just give him the ball and let him go to work and let him orchestrate a lot of things out there. Without him, we have to do it by committee, moving the ball around, driving it a little bit more, playing just a little bit faster with a little bit of different flow. But I think guys have done a great job of adjusting with him out, with him not out there in two of the most important games of our season.”   

The task does not get any easier for the Bucks who will be facing in The Finals a Phoenix Suns squad who is looking to complete their own long journey with their first NBA title.

Prior to this season, the Suns had not made the playoffs in a decade. The last time there was playoff basketball in the “Valley of the Sun” was 2010 where now Nets head coach Steve Nash, Nets assistant Coach Amar’e Stoudemire, Hall of Famer Grant Hill, and then head coach Alvin Gentry (now Kings assistant coach) fell to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, led by the late Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant in six games.

Aside from winning 40 games in 2010-11 and 48 games in 2013-14, just missing out on the Playoffs that season, the Suns compiled those other seven prior to the 2019-20 campaign of just 33, 25, 39, 23, 24, 21, and 19.

One bad decision after another led to dysfunction both on the court and in the front office, where owner since 2004 Robert Sarver became a laughingstock of not just the NBA but all of pro sports.

Like the Bucks, the Suns had to build themselves into a title contender by getting things right first in the front office, through the draft, and hiring the right head coach and coaching staff to get the best out of roster built by the front office. 

Through the draft, the Suns reshaped their roster by drafting Booker No. 13 overall in 2015 out of University of Kentucky. Three years later with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, the Suns selected out of the University of Arizona and Hillcrest Prep Academy’s Deandre Ayton. In that same draft, the Suns acquired the draft rights to No. 10 overall pick Mikal Bridges. On July 6, 2019, the Suns acquired big man Dario Saric along with the draft rights to No. 11 overall pick of 2019 draft in sharp-shooter Cameron Johnson out of University of North Carolina.

Even with the roster taking shape, the Suns still had their difficulties winning consistently because of the void in leadership in the front office and on the sidelines.

After firing Coach Gentry halfway through the 2012-13 season, the Suns from 2013-19 had five head coaches (Lindsey Hunter in 2013; Jeff Hornacek from 2013-16; Earl Watson in 2016-17; Jay Triano in 2017-18; and Igor Kokoskov in 2018-19), with Hornacek being the only one lasting for more than one season.

The next step in the Suns reconstruction came in the front office with the hiring three-time NBA champion with the Heat and Cavaliers James Jones, who played 14 NBA seasons (2003-17) with the Indiana Pacers, Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Heat, and Cavaliers, who began as Vice President of Basketball Operations on July 19, 2017, to being named interim General Manager alongside assistant General Manager Trevor Bukstein and becoming the permanent GM at the end of the 2018-19 season. On May 3, 2019, the Suns hired Monty Williams as their new head coach. 

Things did not get any better under Coach Williams as the team was 26-39 when the season was put on pause because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. When the season resumed in Orlando, FL, the Suns were one of 22 teams invited to the restart to participate in the final eight games of the regular season.

While the odds were stacked against them in making the playoffs, the Suns finished as the only undefeated team in the restart going 8-0, just missed out on the playoffs by one game as they finished the season 34-39.

In the summer 2020, the Suns acquired who they hoped as the final piece in getting them back to the postseason in perennial All-Star Chris Paul from the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also signed veteran Jae Crowder, who played in the 2020 Finals for the Heat against the Lakers.

Excluding the first NBA Finals, the six games of total NBA Finals experience combined by both the Bucks and Suns (all from Crowder) will be the second fewest entering the championship round. The aforementioned series between the 76ers and Trail Blazers in 1977 had a combined zero games of NBA Finals experience, though some of the players had previously appeared in the ABA Finals.

The talent and veteran savvy of Paul combined with the talents and hunger of Booker, who earned his second All-Star selection back in February, while Paul earned his 11^th, Ayton, Bridges, Johnson, Crowder, and Torrey Craig, who the Suns acquired from Bucks at Mar. 25 trade deadline, along with the discipline, focus and attention to detail from Coach Williams, the Suns went 51-21 during the regular season, earning their first trip to the playoffs in a decade.

The Suns playoff journey began against the defending NBA champion Lakers led by their dynamic duo reigning Finals MVP and four-time Kia MVP LeBron James and fellow perennial All-Star Anthony Davis.

Along with dealing with their opponent, the Suns had to deal with a shoulder injury to Paul in Game 1 of the series, which they won 99-90. The Suns would drop the next two games though to fall behind in the series 2-1.

Along with the loss of Davis due to injury in Game 4, the Suns got off the pavement and won Game 4 of series 100-92 to square things up 2-2. They dominated the Lakers back at home in Game 5 115-85, and then closed them out on their homecourt 113-100.

In the West Semifinals, the Suns took a part the depleted Denver Nuggets in a 4-0 sweep as they advanced to the West Finals for the first time since the aforementioned 2010.

In the West Finals, they took Game 1 versus the Los Angeles Clippers 120-114. They stole Game 2-104-103 thanks to an inbounds pass from Crowder that led to the game-winning lob dunk by Ayton, which has been dubbed the “Valley-Oop.”

The Suns won Games 1 and 2 without Paul, who was on the shelf after testing positive for COVID-19. In his absence, Paul’s understudy Cameron Payne, who joined the Suns in the restart in Orlando last season and has played very well in the playoffs had 11 points and nine assists in Game 1 with just one turnover, and a playoff career-high of 29 points and nine assists, two steals and two blocks, and zero turnovers in Game 2.

After dropping Game 3 at the Clippers (106-92), the Suns won a defensive struggle in Game 4 (84-80) at the Clippers to be one win away from The Finals. That win did not come in Game 5 back at home as the Clippers staved off elimination with a 116-102 win. The Suns returned the favor though with a 130-103 win at the Clippers to earn their first trip to The Finals since 1993.

In the first three rounds of the 2021 Playoffs, the Suns went 12-4, clinching each series on the road, where they compiled a 6-2 record this postseason. They never faced an elimination game in any of the first three rounds.

To put into context how incredible of a run this has been for the Suns to reach The Finals, they became the first team in NBA history to play for the Larry O’Brien trophy after missing the postseason 10 straight seasons. Before that, the 2019-20 Lakers and 1976-77 Trail Blazers were tied for the longest droughts of missing the playoffs then reaching The Finals.

They joined the 2011 Heat as the only two teams in the last 35 seasons to reach The Finals after three seasons of having the worst record in the league.

The Suns also joined the Heat (2007-11), Rockets (1982-86), and 76ers (1973-77) as the four teams to from the worst record in “The Association” to an appearance in The Finals within a four-year span in last 50 years.

This Finals appearance is something that means a lot not just for the Suns as an organization but for the main cogs in this machine in Coach Williams, Booker, and Paul.

After a nine-year career playing for the New York Knicks, Spurs, Nuggets, Orlando Magic, and 76ers, Williams began his NBA coaching career as a staff intern with the Spurs in the spring of 2005.

In the fall of that year, Williams was hired as an assistant coach on now Hawks head coach Nate McMillan’s staff with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Five years later, Williams was hired as the head coach of the then New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans), becoming then the youngest coach in NBA history at age 38. In his first season the Hornets under Williams and then lead guard in Paul made the Playoffs at 46-36 but lost in the opening-round to the No. 2 Seeded Lakers. After seasons of winning 21, 27, and 34 games, the now Pelicans under Williams in 2014-15 went 45-37, but again lost in the First-Round to the eventual NBA champion Warriors and was let go after five seasons, compiling a 173-221 record, including going just 2-8 in the postseason.

On June 29, 2015, Williams associate head coach on the staff of head coach Billy Donovan with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

On Feb. 10, 2016, Williams suffered a major loss when his wife Ingrid died from a car crash in Oklahoma City, OK from her car being struck by a vehicle that crossed lanes after losing control. Mrs. Williams left behind her husband and their five children. On June 1, 2016, the Thunder announced that Williams would not return to the team.

In 2016 while heeling from the loss of his wife, Williams worked as Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Spurs.

Two seasons later, Williams returned to coaching when he joined the coaching staff of then head coach Brett Brown and the 76ers as the lead assistant coach.

In getting his second chance at being a head coach with the Suns, Williams in getting feedback from some of his former players with the Pelicans, he learned that he had to change how he coached will not losing the essence of his philosophy as a coach along with the standards of what he expects from his players.

Coach Williams, who won 50 games in the regular season for the first time in his career and with a 12-4 mark so far this postseason pushed his playoff record to one game above .500 (13-12) said to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt postgame after the Game 6 clincher that this was something he always wanted to be a part of his whole career, especially after experiencing this kind of winning while with the Spurs.

When he got the head coaching job with the Suns, Williams said to Van Pelt that every player that came into his program that the essence of his coaching is to serve, especially as someone who believes in Christ.

“And I tell them all the time, if I get on you, I’m not calling you out. I’m calling you up,” Williams said about how he coaches his players. “You have potential and I have to work my tail off to help you to reach that potential. And I think guys have embraced that. They understand that if I’m direct, black, and white with them, it’s not to make them feel bad. I want them to win. I want their families to enjoy it, and it’s served us well.”

A perfect example of this is when he and Paul were first together in New Orleans, Williams believed his way was the only way instead of at times taking input from one of his key players.

Reunited with Paul, that communication has been incredible, and while he still coaches his team hard, it has done with the approach as he has said of not calling the players out but calling them up. Meaning, he coaches his team in a way where they respect where he is coming from, and it brings the best out of them.

“I’ve told people. I’m not ashamed to tell anybody that the most success I’ve had as a coach is with Chris,” Williams said to Van Pelt on Paul’s impact on the Suns this season, adding, “and the conversations we’ve had off the floor or on the floor is always about winning.”

“It’s always about how to make other people better. He picks my brain. I pick his brain. I tend to follow him when he has  an instinct about a certain situation. And for whatever the reason he trust me to put him in situations where he can be successful.”

That is especially true of Ayton where before he was not as dedicated to his craft. Because of how Coach Williams and Paul have stayed on him throughout this season, Ayton is as dedicated to getting better and that has resulted in him shooting at least 50 percent from the field in all 16 games so far this postseason, the longest such streak by a player in NBA Playoff history in the 24-second shot clock era (1954-55). Along with averaging 16.2 points so far this postseason, which is his first, Ayton is also No. 3 in the 2021 Playoffs in rebounds per game at 11.8 and is No. 2 in the Playoffs in double-doubles with 11.

“Just the way how we approach the game period,” Ayton, who had 16 points and 17 rebounds in the Game 6 clincher said to ESPN's Dave McMenamin on Monday at Media Day how specifically Paul has influenced him and the Suns throughout this season. "It's something as young guys we pick up on, and we respect him at a high, high level. And he respects us the same." 

"Just to get the same respect in the locker room, off the court and a dude like him whose a Hall of Famer just doing what he does and for who he is. It's something you can't really talk about. It feels like Michael Jordan or like LeBron James on the court with you. And to see him  [Paul] everyday, you just start to pick it up."   

“But you know what, it’s life and we just got to enjoy this night, get back in the lab and get ready for The Finals.”  

Williams also to Van Pelt about seeing his players celebrate after winning Game 6 at the Clippers to reach The Finals, “But to be a head coach in this position, it’s hard to describe,” Williams said to Van Pelt. “I’m just grateful, and I think I’m just getting old because I really enjoyed watching our players enjoy the moment. But I’m so blessed to coach the guys I coach, to work, the people I work with. To have a job. This kind of job is something I don’t take for granted.”

This postseason, the Suns starting backcourt of Booker and Paul have for sure not taken anything for granted.

As mentioned earlier, Paul’s postseason could have been derailed from a shoulder injury sustained in Game 1 of the opening-round versus the Lakers.

It could have been another moment of unfortunate luck for Paul, who has seen his dreams of winning a title derailed by injury, like in Game 5 of the 2018 West Finals versus the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors while with the Rockets. They lost in seven games and lost the next year in West Semis in six against the Warriors and Paul was eventually dealt that offseason to the Thunder.

At this point in his career, Paul was labeled as an injury prone player whose hardnose, take no prisoners, follow my lead at all times style wore out with his superstar teammates like now Nets All-Star forward Blake Griffin with the Clippers and fellow All-Star and 2018 Kia MVP James Harden.

Last season with the Thunder though, Paul changed his diet, reshaped his body, and toned his approach and help guide the Thunder to the playoffs in the restart in Orlando, where they took his former team the Rockets to the brink before falling in seven games.

In reuniting with Coach Williams in Phoenix, the pair were the driving force in the Suns as mentioned winning 50 games and returning to the Playoffs for the first time in a decade and winning their first Pacific Division title since 2007.

After a rough start to 2021 Playoffs against the Lakers because of a shoulder injury, Paul  raised his play to his future Hall of Fame stature first in the West Semis against the Nuggets averaging 25.5 points and 10.3 assists on 61.3 percent from the field, and 58.3 percent from three-point range.

In the Game 4 clinching 125-118 win of West Semis at the Nuggets, Paul had 37 points and seven assists on 14 for 19 shooting. He finished that series with 41 total assists and just five turnovers.

After missing as he tested positive for COVID-19, which shelved him for the first two games of the West Finals against the Clippers.

When he returned for Game 3 of the West Finals at Clippers after a two-game absence due to testing positive for COVID-19, Paul had 15 points, 12 assists and three steals, but was very rusty having not done any basketball activity for 11 days as he shot just 5 for 19 from the floor.

While the Suns got the win in ugly fashion in Game 4 to be one win away from The Finals, Paul had 18 points and seven assists, but shot just 6 for 22 from the field, but made 6 for 7 from the foul line, including some key free throws in the closing seconds.

After a rough 8 for 19 shooting display for 22 points and eight assists in the loss at home against the Clippers in Game 5, Paul finally found a rhythm in Game 6 scoring 31 of his playoff career-high tying 41 points in the second half, finishing 16 for 24 from the field, including 7 for 8 from three-point range as he led his new team the Suns to The Finals against the team he played for from 2011-17 and experienced many heartbreaking setbacks and injuries that derailed the so-called little brother of L.A. from ever getting to the West Finals let alone The Finals.

“To do it here against a team that I got the upmost respect for. I’ll always be a be a Clipper and I love these fans,” Paul said during the West Finals trophy presentation after the Game 6 clincher.

Paul added about his Suns teammates, “But this crew right here! This crew right here! This game right here! Man, since Day One, they’ve welcomed me with open arms. Coach [Monty Williams] we did this 10 years ago in New Orleans, and we still got a lot of work to do, but we’re going to enjoy this one.” 

One person who really enjoyed this moment was Booker, who in the early part of his career could have decided that he wanted out of Phoenix. He could have gone in kicking and screaming to management to deal him our he could have after his rookie contract had ended.

Instead, he stuck with it. He had faith in what Coach Williams was selling when he got to the Suns last season, and Booker rewarded that faith by taking care of his end of things on the floor, especially in the playoffs.

To put how exceptional Booker has been in his first postseason run, his scoring average of 27.0 points marks the first time since 1977 a team has reached The Finals with its leading scorer making his playoff debut since Hall of Famers Julius “Dr. J” Erving of 76ers and Maurice Lucas of Portland Trail Blazers did it, but both had ABA playoff experience. The Trail Blazers defeated the 76ers in the 1997 Finals that season. Also on this list is the late Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor who did for the Lakers in 1959 in his playoff debut and the late great Tom Heinsohn did it for the Celtics two seasons prior.

Booker’s 432 total points and counting are the third most in a single postseason by a Suns player, trailing the 449 total points scored by Stoudemire in 2005 postseason and the 638 scored by Barkley in the Suns 1993 run to The Finals.

In the closeout games of the first two rounds of the playoffs, Booker was at his best with 47 points and 11 rebounds on 15 for 20 from the field, including 8 for 10 from three-point range in Game 6 clincher of First-Round at the Lakers. In the Game 4 clincher of West Semis at the Nuggets, Booker had 34 points and 11 boards on 11 for 25 shooting and 10 for 11 from the charity stripe.  

“This is what we set out to get tonight,” Booker, who had 22 points and seven boards in the Game 6 clincher at the Clippers said during the West Finals trophy presentation. “So, we didn’t want to go back to Phoenix without it. We didn’t want to do a Game 7. We wanted to do it here tonight.”

In a series that was very tight and evenly matched during the season. It comes down to first if Antetokounmpo will play in The Finals as he missed the last two games of the East Finals against the Hawks with as mentioned a hyperextended right knee.

If he cannot go, that means the pressure is on Middleton and Holiday to lead the way on both ends.

They will have their hands full with the backcourt of Booker and Paul, who have been nothing short of sensational throughout the playoffs.

“One is just relying on my teammates,” Holiday said to the “NBA: The Jump” crew on what it will take to try to slow down the Suns backcourt of Paul and Booker. “Obviously, nobody can do it by themselves. These are the best scorers in the world. And to be able to do it by yourself is virtually impossible. So, relying on my teammates, Brook, Giannis, Khris, we always got Big-Tuck.”

“So, they help me out so much, and then honestly, just being able to have confidence in myself. Just knowing guys are going to go out there, and they’re going to have big games. But at the same time, I can do the same thing on both ends of the floor.

When the Bucks have been right this postseason, they have outscored their opponents on the fast break, where they have been a +5.2 and a +12.1 in points in the paint.

In the Semis against the Hawks, the Hawks were a plus-98 differential in points in the paint (338-240).

“We tried to own the paint the last series,” Portis, who started Games 5 and 6 in place of Antetokounmpo in the East Finals said of the Bucks offensive strategy last series, “just pounding the ball inside. I think that’s going to be a big emphasis for us in this series.”

The Bucks all season long have also shown an ability to play from ahead as well as behind. They followed up a 41-9 mark in the regular season when leading by at least 10 points at any point in the game with a 10-1 mark after leading by at least 10 points so far in the 2021 Playoffs.  They are only team with a winning mark at 4-3 after trailing by double-digits so far this postseason and have shown their ability to pull games out in the clutch with a 4-2 record in games that were within five points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime in the playoffs.  

“There hasn’t been any doubt for me throughout this playoff run, whether we were up 2-0 against Miami or down 2-0 against Brooklyn,” Lopez said. “I would like to be able to speak for everyone else and saying that we have all had the confidence going through, that we can achieve that goal of winning a championship.”

In a series where the likes of Middleton and Holiday for the Bucks, and Booker and Paul will receive a lot of attention from the opposing side, it comes down to ancillary players like Lopez, Tucker, Connaughton, and Teague for the Bucks, and Crowder, Ayton, Bridges, Johnson, Saric, Craig and Payne for the Suns.

What has put the Suns over the top in getting to The Finals is their ability to get stops and make their free throws consistently, where they have shot 86.2 percent from the charity stripe the first three rounds of the 2021 Playoffs, the best mark for a team with at least 250 free throw attempts in NBA Playoff history.

They too like the Bucks have been exceptional when it comes to closing out teams when leading by double digits. They went 45-10 in the regular season when leading by at least 10 points at any point in a game to a perfect 11-0 when ahead by at least 10 points so far in the 2021 Playoffs.

“Guys are ready to play,” Coach Williams said on Monday. “I think guys feel really good about where they are right now.”

It has been a long time for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns since they last appeared in the NBA Finals.

For one of these teams, they will end a season where both have had to overcome a lot from dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic to just the grind of competition in one of the most daunting of NBA seasons ever with the Larry O’Brien trophy in their hands.

For the Bucks headliner, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has had a remarkable a career to this point with many good years left has a chance, if he can play to lead his team to where they have not been in five decades.

The Bucks hope to join the 1977 Trail Blazers and the 2015 Warriors as the third team in NBA history to win a title without a player with any previous NBA Finals experience.

For Suns’ Chris Paul, the only thing missing from his Hall of Fame resume is a title. He entered the Playoffs as the all-time leader in All-Star selections (11), All-NBA selections (10) and NBA All-Defensive team selections (9) without appearing in The Finals. Only Denver Nuggets Paul Millsap (129) and the now Celtics Al Horford (124) have played more playoff games without appearing in The Finals than Paul, who is three ahead of former Suns Joe Johnson and Nash at 120.

The Suns are four wins away from adding the one thing missing from Paul’s Hall of Fame resume, a championship.

If he can lead the Suns to their first Larry O’Brien trophy, he will join Juwan Howard (won title with Heat in 2012 in season No. 18), Kevin Willis (won title with Spurs in 2003 in seasons No. 19), Mavericks new head coach Jason Kidd (won title with Mavericks in 2011 in season No. 17), 76ers perennial All-Star Dwight Howard (won title in 2020 with Lakers in season No. 16), and Hall of Famer Gary Payton (won title with Heat in 2006 in season No. 16) who won a title in season No. 16 or later.  

If the Suns capture their first Larry O’Brien trophy in franchise history, they can join the 2008 Celtics and the 2020 Lakers to win the NBA championship after missing the playoffs the previous season. The Suns can also become the 20^th active NBA franchise and the 21^st NBA franchise overall to win a title (the now defunct Baltimore Bullets won their lone championship in 1947-48 season).

“I think we’re locked into the goal at hand,” Paul said during his media availability on Monday.

Predication: Suns in six games.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 6/30/2021 11:30 p.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter With Scott Van Pelt;” 7/1/2021 3 p.m. "NBAL The Jump" ESPN 2 with Rachel Nichols, Richard Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, Chris Bosh, and Zach Lowe; 7/1/2021 www.nba.com story, “Chris Paul’s Masterful Closeout Performance Ends Pair of Long Droughts,” by Shaun Powell; 7/3/2021 8:30 p.m. “Milwaukee Bucks versus Atlanta Hawks” Game 6 East Finals on TNT, presented by AT&T with Marv Albert, Reggie Miller, and Stephanie Ready; 7/3/2021 11 p.m. “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 7/4/2021 2 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with Michael Eaves and Stan Verrett; 7/4/2021 www.nba.com story, “NBA Finals Preview: Can Bucks Put Clamps On Determined Chris Paul, Suns?,” by Shaun Powell; 7/5/2021 www.nba.com story, “Numbers Preview: The Finals,” by John Schuhmann;” 7/2021 4 p.m. "NBA: The Jump" ESPN 2 with Rachel Nichols, Richard Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, and Dave McMenaminl 7/5/2021 www.nba.com story, “Storylines And State To Know For 2021 NBA Finals;” 7/6/2021 www.nba.com story, “10 Facts To Know About Bucks Versus Suns Matchup In The Finals,” by Tim Reynolds The Associated Press; 7/6/2021 www.nba.com, “Fresh Faces Bring Fresh Drama To NBA Finals,” by Shaun Powell;  www.espn.com/nba/stats/team/_/view/team/season/2021/seasontype; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Suns; and https://en.m.wikipeda.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Bucks.