When you think of the NBA, most of the time you don’t think of Phoenix, Milwaukee, or Atlanta, but the NBA Conference Finals feature them.
You do normally think of Los Angeles, but only the Lakers, who aren’t part of the mix this year. We are down to the final four teams playing for the championship in the NBA and all four have an interesting story to tell.
The Eastern Conference Finals
The matchup for the Eastern Conference Finals gives us the Atlanta Hawks taking on the Milwaukee Bucks. Both teams had to get through teams with better regular-season records and were serious underdogs in the previous series. Both teams also faced a seventh game in the previous series, which means both teams took their respectful foes to the distance before eliminating them from contention.
The Atlanta Hawks Are the Lowest Seed Left
Out of all four teams left in the NBA Conference Finals, the Atlanta Hawks are the only team that didn’t have a single home-court series advantage. The Hawks came into the playoffs as a five-seed and had to get through the New York Knicks that had beaten them all three times they played during the regular season. The series between the Knicks and Hawks wasn’t even close with the Hawks winning in five games.
Once they had dispatched of the Knicks, the Hawks faced the Philadelphia 76ers. With a stacked lineup and the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the 76ers were expected to win the series, but the Hawks had other ideas. Three of the four games the Hawks won were played in Philadelphia, which shows the toughness and grit of this young team. The Hawks look to put their best team on the floor as the next series begins.
Survival of the Milwaukee Bucks
You might think the regular season was the time to determine the right role for each player on a team, but the Bucks have found success by changing roles. They have done this by putting two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in the secondary role while allowing Khris Middleton to take a more decisive role. This change allowed the Bucks to win over the Brooklyn Nets in overtime in Game 7 of the previous series.
The Bucks couldn’t have gotten to the series with the Nets without winning the previous series. That was the series that began the playoffs for this team which gave us a true sweep of the Miami Heat by the Bucks. The upcoming series with the Hawks puts two very different teams against each other.
The Western Conference Finals
The Western Conference Finals features the Los Angeles Clippers facing off with the Phoenix Suns. Unfortunately, injuries and COVID-19 have struck both teams heading into this series to give us a pair of teams that aren’t able to put their best team on the floor. Which team will win this NBA Conference Finals series and head to the matchup with the winner of the Eastern Conference? It may come down to the team with the lowest attrition rate.
The Phoenix Suns Took Down Some Heavyweights
Both the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers were expected to beat the Sun when they faced them. The Lakers failed in six games with injuries to Anthony Davis that kept him sidelined during most of their series. The Suns came in playing some amazing team basketball and took down the Lakers. The series for the Suns against the Nuggets was a bit more of a beating with the Suns dispatching the Nuggets in four games.
Currently, the Phoenix Suns are without their point guard, Chris Paul, due to a positive COVID-19 test and the lack of current vaccination. Will the Suns be able to withstand the offensive play of the Clippers while waiting for their veteran leader to return?
The Los Angeles Clippers has a Tough Road
En route to the NBA Conference Finals, the Clippers faced several questions and a pair of tough series that could have left them out of the finals. The first series took place against the Dallas Mavericks and that team pushed the Clippers all the way to a Game 7 scenario in which the LA team found a way to win.
The second series for the Clippers was against the Utah Jazz, which wasn’t an easy series either, but thankfully only went six games. Unfortunately, Kawhi Leonard was injured in that series and might miss most of or all of the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns.
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