National Basketball Association

Milwaukee Bucks vs. Phoenix Suns: A rare shot at glory

Updated Jul. 30, 2021 8:17 a.m. ET

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

Welcome to the NBA Finals that no one saw coming. It’s a matchup that should be filled with excitement, and unless your sports fandom depends solely on a multitude of superstar sightings, it’s going to be tremendous.

The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks earned the right to play for the grandest prize in basketball in a variety of ways. They did it through imagination, resilience, perseverance, innovation and a willingness to step up when needed.

They did it by staying healthy (enough) when others couldn’t at the end of a tightly packed, COVID-condensed, 72-game season that tested the boundaries of effective rest.

Now, at the end of it, comes a chance that most suspected would fall to other, more prestigious candidates, such as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets, who, not incidentally, the Suns and Bucks, respectively, dispatched along the way.

At the start of the campaign, no one was taking the Bucks too seriously after a pair of postseason disappointments, and no one was talking about the Suns at all, given their recent barren years in the loaded Western Conference.

Such lowly expectations can have a liberating effect, and the absence of burden can give a season the feeling of a free roll.

That feeling ends now.

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Now, all eyes are upon them. Now, the concept of "nothing to lose" no longer applies. Now, it just got really serious.

An opportunity beckons for both Phoenix and Milwaukee that neither can be sure will ever come again. This might be the time, the best shot — and only one of them can capture it.

Sure, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the Bucks figure to be factors for years to come. They have been outstanding in the regular season, and Antetokounmpo won back-to-back MVPs in the two seasons prior to this one.

Even so, a fully healthy Nets team would be a strong favorite to improve its stock a year from now, and even the best-case scenario for the Bucks doesn’t necessarily have them cutting a swath through the East year upon year. A lot of good players have played a lot of seasons without making it as far as the conference finals. Assuming that opportunities for triumph will reappear, time and again, is a fool’s errand.

Just ask Chris Paul, the Suns’ veteran point guard who now gets his go at pulling down an NBA crown after 16 years of trying. The Suns have been the most effervescent and arguably the most enjoyable story of the hoops year, but there is no certainty that they will become a dominant, perpetual powerhouse in the West.

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Even with Devin Booker emerging as one of the finest players on the planet, the Lakers, LA Clippers, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks are all gearing up to gain back control next season. The Suns’ time, engineered by Paul and powered by Booker and a fine supporting cast, could be now.

"That’s the only teammate that really pushed me, big-bro-type push," Phoenix center Deandre Ayton said in reference to Paul. "He’s the best thing that happened to my career."

The young, enterprising, eyes-wide-open Suns might be the best thing to happen to Paul as well, as they are a group of utterly unjaded players eager to soak up his knowledge and lean on his experience.

If this thing gets close and a title is there for the taking, who is going to be more nervous: Paul or his teammates? That’s not a question for now, perhaps, but it might soon be.

One of the lingering plotlines hanging above the series is the injury status of Antetokounmpo, who went down with a hyperextended knee in Game 4 of the conference finals. Middleton marshaled the troops for Games 5 and 6, but the availability of the Greek Freak could be a decisive factor in the series.

"The Bucks can survive Giannis missing two games," FS1’s Nick Wright said on "First Things First." "If Giannis is back by Game 3, the Bucks will win the title. They can survive falling down 2-0. This year, for all its injuries and upheaval, the one part that could make it all make sense would be if the two-time MVP … propelled [himself] to being a champion."

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The Suns are -250 favorites to win Game 1, with the Bucks at +190, per FOX Bet. For the championship, Phoenix clocks in at -182, with Milwaukee at +155, though that could change quickly based on early results and updates on Antetokounmpo.

In truth, this is an evenly matched series that could be swayed by small, intricate factors, and that only adds to the intrigue.

And perhaps the greatest one of all pervades: Who will be able to handle the pressure?

Because the pressure is there, all the time. It's just a different kind of pressure than what we’re used to seeing. It is not the burden of living up to past franchise greats. The Suns have never won an NBA title, and the Bucks haven’t done so in 50 years.

It is, instead, the opposite. It’s the reality that this is a rare shot at glory and a special opportunity, perhaps a one-off. Whoever keeps their composure amid that singular truth — and pounces upon the chance rather than being cowed by it — might find that this time is theirs.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.