Bucks, Suns ready for NBA Finals to get started tonight
PHOENIX >> Chris Paul walked up the stairs and took a seat in front of the NBA Finals logo, a climb that took him 16 years to complete.
The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks are used to enduring long waits.
They came into the NBA together in 1968 and between them have managed to win one championship.
Now here they both are, a couple of unfamiliar contestants to finish off a most unusual season.
“Walking into here, seeing Mr. Larry on every poster,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said, referring to the Larry O’Brien Trophy, “it gave me goosebumps.”
Imagine the feeling if he’s on the first Suns team to win an NBA championship.
Game 1 is tonight in Phoenix, which hasn’t hosted an NBA Finals game since Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls completed their first three-peat here in 1993. The Suns’ only other chance was in 1976, when they lost to Boston.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s status remains unknown, with Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer saying he had no update on the injured superstar’s knee.
“Without him, we have to do it by committee,” Bucks guard Khris Middleton said.
It’s a whole new setting for the 36-year-old Paul, who acknowledged one of the differences. Home teams usually practice at their training facility, but the workout on the eve of the NBA Finals is in the arena.
“It’s still basketball,” the point guard said. “I think we’re all locked in to the goal at hand.”
Milwaukee won a championship in 1971, so long ago that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still known as Lew Alcindor when he and Oscar Robertson were perhaps the top tandem in the league. The Bucks had drafted Alcindor out of UCLA with the No. 1 pick in 1969 after winning a coin flip against the Suns.
The Bucks got back in 1974 but haven’t been seen in the finals since. They have been closing in over the last few years. Milwaukee had the best record in the NBA in both 2018-19 and 2019-20 and was two games away from the NBA Finals in that first season. They came back better after acquiring guard Jrue Holiday before this season.
“To get these four wins is going to be difficult but really excited for it,” Holidaysaid.
The Suns had been going nowhere, not even making the playoffs since 2010. They were 19-63 just two seasons ago, tying for the secondworst record in the league.
But an undefeated run in their eight restart games in the Walt Disney World bubble last summer sent them into this season with momentum, and they entered it with a new leader when they acquired Paul from Oklahoma City.
Besides Paul’s All-Star play, the Suns needed the right veteran to bring out the best in young stars Devin Booker and Ayton. Phoenix finished with the second-best record in the league, knocked out the defending champion Lakers in the first round, swept MVP Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets and then shook off
the absence of Paul for two games to beat the Clippers in the Western Conference finals.
Paul was out for c oronavirus health and safety protocols, which every team had to work around this season. Numerous stars also dealt with injuries and the Bucks are hoping Antetokounmpo can overcome his.
The two-time MVP missed Games 5 and 6 of
the East finals after hyperextending his left knee in Game 4, but Middleton and Holiday led the Bucks past Atlanta in both games.
“I think guys have done a great job of adjusting without him in two of the most important games of our season,” Middleton said. GIANNIS UPDATE >> Budenholzer didn’t give many details on Antetokounmpo,
beyond saying he was getting better.
“He did court work, so he’s making progress and we’re pleased he’s making progress,” Budenholzer said. SEASON SERIES >> The Suns won a pair of games that were as close as can be. Their 125-124 home win on Feb. 10 came when Antetokounmpo scored a seasonhigh 47 points but missed a jumper at the buzzer, and they pulled out a 128-127 victory in Milwaukee on April 19 when Booker knocked down a free throw with 0.3 seconds left in overtime. MCMILLAN GETS INTERIM COACH TAG REMOVED BY HAWKS >> Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk moved quickly to lock down Nate McMillan as the full-time coach, reaching an agreement to remove the interim tag only two days after team’s season ended.
The deal comes after McMillan, in his interim role, led the team to an improbable run to the Eastern Conference finals.
McMillan, 56, was named interim coach after Lloyd Pierce was fired when the team had a 14-20 record. The Hawks enjoyed an immediate turnaround under McMillan. They played better late in games, protecting leads while posting a 2711 mark that gave them the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. It was Atlanta’s first playoff berth since 2017.