To understand what made The NBA Finals in 2021 special, I’ll need to go back a few games. The Eastern Semifinals specifically. In what was sold as the best match-up in the entire series, The Milwaukee Bucks took on The Brooklyn Nets in a tumultuous Game 7. It’s everything that a fan would want in a competition where a super-team in The Nets were primed to at very least play The Finals… but only if they had an entirely healthy roster. Their “triple threat” of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and the absent Kyrie Irving had yet to find a rhythm and were starting to lose steam. Still, could they beat The Bucks that were on the verge of their own collapse in two-time MVP winner Giannis Antetokuonmpo from a leg injury?
It all came down to a play. Had one simple act played out differently, there’s a good chance that Milwaukee would just be going about their lives right now. In a literal tightrope move where The Nets could score two to tie or three to win with seconds to go, they passed the ball to Durant. He had been carrying the team for most of the game and this was their moment. Everything had worn down, but there was still hope. As the ball flew in the air for that glorious buzzer beater, the room exploded. The screens projected images declaring “THREE POINTS!” Crazy if this was the end of it, but it wasn’t. It was declared that Durant had stepped on the line enough to alter the points. The Nets lost in overtime.
That is how the whole season seemed to play, like a tightrope where the smallest mistake altered the entire line-up. Not a single team made it through any round without some injury whether it be permanent, or in the case of Chris Paul a COVID-19 protocol that kept him out of games in The Western Conference Finals (meanwhile, Devin Booker was coming off of a broken nose that required him to wear a compromising face shield). With the accelerated schedule and players jumping from The NBA to The Olympics, things have been wildly unpredictable. For instance, nobody (and I mean NOBODY) expected The Atlanta Hawks to take out No. 1 in the east The Philadelphia 76’ers. There was such an injection of new blood this year that almost every team that had made an impact in the 2019-2020 season had dropped off early. This was also the first season in a decade to not feature Steph Curry or LeBron James. Even this year’s MVP Nikola Jokic found The Denver Nuggets drop out in the second round against The Phoenix Suns.
To be completely honest, everyone from The Conference Finals and up deserves love. In the case of The Suns and The Los Angeles Clippers, they were achieving a success their franchises had never experienced before. The Bucks hadn’t been to The Finals (let alone won) in 50 years. To me, this is one of those incredible years for basketball made more impressive because of how unpredictable the line-ups were. Those betting on repeats would be disappointed in The Los Angeles Lakers bowing out early. Sometimes it simply came down to who was healthy, other times it was just that clear. This was going to be a year to usher in the next generation of basketball.
It showed up in small ways, such as when The Suns won The Western Conference. Renowned athlete Chris Paul couldn’t help but cry. After 16 years he was about to go to The Finals for the first time. Given that he had jumped from team to team the past few seasons, it was clear that he landed on something special with his right hand man Booker ready to lead Arizona to their moment in a different kind of sun. Meanwhile, for The Bucks, a win for Antetokuonmpo would cement him as a generational talent, likely to join the ranks of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant as an indomitable lead on and off the court. Also, it would prove that you didn’t need to join a super-team to win: a strategy that had dropped The Nets and The 76’ers with notorious jeers.
There would be no losers in this year’s Finals. Yes, in a literal sense there had to be. However, so much had gone right that this match-up would be the best in many years. Whereas The Lakers playing The Miami Heat last year felt like an obvious win, this was always going to be up in the air. Often games ended by strokes of luck with close points differentials with highlight reel-ready moments of Antetokuonmpo blocking shots with an aggressive throw. Elsewhere Booker made history as the player with the highest score in their playoff season debut. No matter what, the teams were hungry and coming for that trophy.
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| Devin Booker |
Going into Game 1, many had predicted The Suns to at least have an early advantage. This was because of one reason. Towards the end of The Bucks’ previous match-up against The Hawks, Antetokuonmpo came down with a leg injury that, while tame, left many wondering if this was it for the team. Similarly, The Hawks’ Trae Young had tumbled from similar causes in the same round. Was this just a game where the bench played the other bench?
If one thing should be clear about The Myth of Giannis™, he wants to be seen as unstoppable. If you think a leg injury will keep him away from the court, he’ll learn how to handstand. It’s the work ethic you expect from greats and one of the reasons labeling him as The Greek Freak is a high compliment. He’ll be sharing this in his own The Last Dance in 15 years when whatever his ultimate form reaches its culmination. Still, to have him come back so quickly for Game 1 against The Suns showed that he was serious, ready to sacrifice it all to give Cream City that trophy.
While it can be argued that this was one of the best NBA Finals in years, I honestly think that the first three games left much to the imagination. Maybe it’s because each team won on their respective courts, but it felt like a warm-up for when they really needed to unleash their full potential. The Suns would take an immediate 2-0 lead, leaving many to wonder if they would sweep it. They definitely had the roster to do it in Paul, Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Jae Crowder (among others). Maybe Antetokuonmpo would never reach his greatness, especially after Game 1 wound up being one of his lower-scoring games.
Some things need to be made clear. Throughout the entire series, The Bucks and The Suns were equally matched, finding their star players giving their all often in a fourth quarter deathmatch. It’s the type of basketball that demands your attention, rarely giving out predictable answers. Even in Game 6, each team entered the final 12 minutes tied at 77 points each. While it slowly became clear that The Bucks had more reserves to pull from, The Suns never exactly gave up. As they had the whole season, they fought hard and chased the balls to corners that others dared not to go. The only problem was that Antetokuonmpo was always at the basket ready to knock them down. There’s nothing they could do but keep trying to find that loophole.
As I’ve said in the past, The Bucks have been an incredible team for a few years now. With a two-time MVP leading the team, they were ready for a redemption arc that only made the narrative much sweeter. During 2020 in The Bubble, The Bucks had a messy run that caused them to bow out earlier than most predicted. Like The Clippers, they were considered one of the biggest disappointments of the season. Nobody really expected either team to make a turnaround, let alone for one of the most lopsided seasons imaginable. Still, if 2019-2020 was a test of who could play under unforeseen pressure, 2020-2021 was under an even tougher time crunch.
To The Bucks’ credit, the team they assembled was bigger, better, faster. They pulled from the corners of the league and assembled players like Bobby Portis, Jrue Holiday, and P.J. Tucker (a player so lucky that he jumped shark right as The Houston Rockets were about to become the worst team in the league following Harden’s departure). Given that The Bucks already had a strong core with Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, everything was in place.
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| Bobby Portis Jr. |
Meanwhile, The Suns getting Paul was only one of many trades that promoted The Suns to a status that nobody saw coming. It was only a few years prior that they were considered one of the worst teams in the league. In The Bubble, they did the unthinkable by winning 100% of their games. The only problem was their original season was fraught with enough losses to make them miss The Playoffs by that much after The Memphis Grizzlies grabbed the eighth seed.
Comparatively, The Finals were as straightforward as they could be. There weren’t as many prominent injuries that threw the predictions into chaos. The worst that could be said was The Bucks went on a four game winning streak that unfortunately made The Suns look worse than they actually were. Anyone who actually watched the games was privy to a team that wanted to be there. The only catch was that they didn’t have enough gas to keep up.
Game 6 was a masterful piece of mythmaking for Milwaukee. Going beyond the win, it was a game full of small moments that one couldn’t help but meme. In the case of Portis, he had enthusiastic expressions on his face, at one point dancing zanily away from a foul.
Meanwhile, there was Antetokuonmpo who treated the whole event as an extended highlight reel. Not only was it the moment that The Bucks clinched victory, but he would come out earning 50 points for the game (not to mention an unprecedented 20 points in the third quarter alone). Given that he had scored over 40 points in three separate games and had a high points per game average, this was his ascension. What audiences were witnessing was history not seen since LeBron James took The Cleveland Cavaliers out of their own Finals drought. This was giving the city pride and legacy. Outside, over 60,000 fans cheered in The Deer District as fireworks went off overhead.
It was clear how much this win meant to Milwaukee. Of course, it meant even more to the symbolic future of The NBA. Whereas The Lakers winning embodied the power of the old guard, Antetokuonmpo was the young kid. The 2020-2021 season was full of a new era of players stepping up and proving themselves. Who could forget Booker, Trae Young, or even Jokic? As much as this season was about luck and survival, it was a sign that the next decade of The NBA has started, and we’re only a few years away from someone like The New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson joining those ranks. It’s an exciting time, even if it also symbolizes the unfortunate reality that Paul still hasn’t won a ring. Still, he got further than he ever had. In a year this unpredictable, at least that ended well.
It’s funny to see how Antetokuonmpo started and ended the season. There was a time when many wondered if he would trade to another team following a disappointing season. Instead, he signed a max contract and doubled down on his promise to win the city a trophy. As he walked around dancing and taking pictures, it was clear that he made the right decision. In interviews he would even say that he did things the hard way, allowing him to be proven by his own skill. As he signed onto Instagram the next morning, he was joking in a drive-thru that he wanted “Free Chic-Fil-A for life” as fans cheered from outside. The manager responded “Only if you win us another championship."
The pressure’s really on now. It’s time to see if The Bucks will break a recent string of winners who have gone on to have misfires of a season. Whether it be The Golden State Warriors losing most of The Dynasty Players or The Toronto Raptors fading into obscurity, it’s been rough watching NBA Champions try and pull a repeat. The question is that with so much changing this quickly, what will stick around in the 2021-2022 season. To be completely honest, this feels like we’re about to enter the golden age for Milwaukee, or at least Giannis. It’s been a while since basketball has felt this ceremonious and ready to usher in a new legend.
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