NBA Finals: Suns and Bucks Tied at 2-2

In these NBA Finals, the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks are facing off in what has been an intriguing matchup.

Milwaukee initially came off a six game series win over the Atlanta Hawks, in which they were without superstar center Giannis Antetokounmpo for games five and six due to injury. The Greek Freak left game four against the Hawks after suffering a hyperextension of the left knee. “You have to listen to the player and then you have to listen to the sports performance group, and at some point [Bucks GM] Jon Horst and myself are part of the conversations, but it’s just a day-to-day thing,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said.

A healthy Antetokounmpo is key if the Bucks have any real shot at winning this series (so far so good). He looked downright scary in two meetings against Phoenix this season, scoring a combined 80 points on 60% shooting from the field.

The Suns are talented, but have run into a bit luck along the way. Phoenix defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in six games to reach their first finals since 1993, when they lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Of course, the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard for the entire series, and his presence was sorely missed on both ends of the court by Los Angeles. Leonard suffered an ACL injury in game four of the conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz.

Before that, the Suns defeated a Los Angeles Lakers squad that was sans power forward/center Anthony Davis (groin strain) , and disposed of a Denver Nuggets team without the services of guard Jamal Murray (torn ACL).

Suns point guard Chris Paul, who is in his sixteenth season, will be playing in the first championship series of his career. The future hall of famer looked unstoppable in the closeout game against his former squad, scoring 41 points on 16-24 shooting, including 30 points in the second half.

Milwaukee has tried to slow Paul down by assigning guard Jrue Holiday to guard him. Holiday, a 2021 member of the NBA all-defensive team, is more than capable of holding his own against Paul. “I think everybody has watched Chris Paul play as a little kid – not saying he’s old, but we have seen him play a lot, and he gets to his mid-range and he’s great at his mid-range, especially in the pick-and-roll,” Holiday said. “Book is great in the iso, going left or right, pull up. He’s athletic, so he can get to the basket too. Just attention to details and try to be as solid as possible.”

These two teams met twice in the regular season, with Phoenix winning both games by a combined two points, including a 128-127 overtime victory in April.

While the Suns have been waiting a long time to get back to the NBA Finals, it pales in comparison to the Bucks’ agonizing stretch. This is Milwaukee’s first finals appearance since 1974, when they lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games.

So far, each team has won both games in their respective hometowns and have tied up the series at 2-2. For the most part, this has been a pretty even matchup. It will be interesting to see how this series evolves.