Bucks, Suns To Square Off In NBA Finals

The two regular-season games between Milwaukee and Phoenix this season fit the same script. Both were extremely high scoring. Both went down to the wire. Both saw Phoenix win by a single point, with a free throw by Devin Booker ending up as the game winner each time. There was also this: Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t be guarded in either game. And now, it’s the Bucks and Suns — forever tied together after Milwaukee won a 1969 coin flip after the teams’ first seasons for Lew Alcindor — in the NBA Finals, with Antetokounmpo’s status a major question. The NBA’s title series is set: Game 1 between the Bucks and Suns will be in Phoenix on Tuesday night, the last matchup of this compressed season that navigated its way through the coronavirus pandemic, players and coaches testing positive for COVID-19, and a slew of injuries to some of the game’s biggest stars — Antetokounmpo and Phoenix’s Chris Paul included. Paul is back, set to play in the NBA Finals for the first time in his career. Antetokounmpo can only hope to be that fortunate.