Final Thoughts
Some fans of the Phoenix Suns may not like this opinion piece as it could be a hard read, especially for any team who waited a long time to get back to both the Western Conference Finals and the NBA Finals.
But still, no one can take away the fact that the Suns balled out this season, continuing from their incredible run to end the bubble of the previous (pandemic) season. But this year, everything just aligned and made it so that it wasn't meant to be the year for them (not just yet).
Basketball Smarts, Shooting & Defense
They did everything right, continuing that winning streak to end the last season. This year, CP3 carried his young wards but in the end, we saw right before our eyes why Paul still hasn't won a ring just yet, inspite of all his skills and smarts.
Their coaching has been tremendous as well, just with the occasional lapses here in there (normal for everybody). But those miscues were just enough to lose them games 4 and the pivotal game 5.
Losing a game at home was the key to this finals series. Not holding serve was the turning point.
Game was Even
Game 5 was even in almost every aspect and the referees were better at least compared to all previous games in this series. Yet, even with the big boost from the Phoenix home crowd, we could see that the visiting team was just the slightly better team (players and coaching staff) and they were the better prepared team.
Killing the Bucks right off the opening tip and all throughout the first quarter didn't do the Suns any good, if anything it led to a complacency and an over confidence that did them in the rest of the way. The same thing almost happened to the Bucks in their home court in game 6, but they held on.
Breaks
The Suns had most of the breaks this post season, injuries to all the top players of their every opponent plus getting the calls when it mattered. The referees just had to give CP3, Booker and the rest of the Suns team these calls because of their crafty and cunning ways of drawing (or selling) the fouls.
But all of these combined, also became their downfall. The finals was a different tournament, everyone has to play through the physicality and the miscalls, and the coaching staff should be able to call the timeouts at just the right time, adjust the matchups (offense and defense), and manage the substitutions just right.
Pressure
The Suns were never down in any series match-up this post season and so when they finally went down 2 games to 3 and were facing elimination, they cracked under the pressure.
The Suns having been spoiled by favorable calls and the injuries to every team they met, was just not able to adjust and they were just less prepared mentally and emotionally, for the spotlight and the pressure.
Salute to winning the Western Conference Finals, the West was a much harder conference as usual, lady luck smiled on the Suns but she also frowned on them at the finals.
Game was Even
Game 5 was even in almost every aspect and the referees were better at least compared to all previous games in this series. Yet, even with the big boost from the Phoenix home crowd, we could see that the visiting team was just the slightly better team (players and coaching staff) and they were the better prepared team.
Killing the Bucks right off the opening tip and all throughout the first quarter didn't do the Suns any good, if anything it led to a complacency and an over confidence that did them in the rest of the way. The same thing almost happened to the Bucks in their home court in game 6, but they held on.
Breaks
The Suns had most of the breaks this post season, injuries to all the top players of their every opponent plus getting the calls when it mattered. The referees just had to give CP3, Booker and the rest of the Suns team these calls because of their crafty and cunning ways of drawing (or selling) the fouls.
But all of these combined, also became their downfall. The finals was a different tournament, everyone has to play through the physicality and the miscalls, and the coaching staff should be able to call the timeouts at just the right time, adjust the matchups (offense and defense), and manage the substitutions just right.
Pressure
The Suns were never down in any series match-up this post season and so when they finally went down 2 games to 3 and were facing elimination, they cracked under the pressure.
The Suns having been spoiled by favorable calls and the injuries to every team they met, was just not able to adjust and they were just less prepared mentally and emotionally, for the spotlight and the pressure.
Salute to winning the Western Conference Finals, the West was a much harder conference as usual, lady luck smiled on the Suns but she also frowned on them at the finals.
If there was an injury to any of the top players of Milwaukee, they could have swept this finals as well, like they did Denver.
Deserving
But they deserve to be in the finals no doubt. Now, if Davis, Murray and Leonard played, it would have better prepared the Suns for this finals, and against a Bucks team without a major injury to their top players.
Who knows, if the referees didn't ejected Jokic in that pivotal game 4 which led to the Suns sweeping the Nuggets, then it could have better prepared them.
In the end, I think it worked against them as having the "easier" path to the finals didn't do them any good. Plus being the one with an injury in their line up in the finals was almost like karma.
Congratulations to the 2021 NBA Champions, the Milwaukee Bucks, they were just the better prepared team.
And let us stop with our whining with the referees. Champions play through both the good calls and the bad ones and they do not look at the refs to win them games. They adjust. They play to win. And when they lose they blame no one else but themselves.
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