Piece By Nicholas Cosmai
Twitter: @CozzyNick
The 2020/21 NBA Season has officially concluded with the Milwaukee Bucks lifting the franchises first championship in 50 years. Beating the Phoenix Suns four games to two in what turned into an entertaining series between the two small market teams. As is with most things in life, there have been some learning points throughout this past fortnight, some that carry us forward into next season.
Playoffs effected by Money
This one is more of a playoff thing rather then just finals, but most people will use this to degrade this championship and finals because of the circumstances. Likewise with the championship and finals last season. This was a playoff series like no other, but mostly not for the best of reasons. Following is the players that got injured just in the playoffs. Trae Young, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Chris Paul, and Donovan Mitchell to name some. All these players are stars of the league and felt the consequences of the altered season. This season had a much shorter off season coming into opening night along with more games than the previous season in a shorter time frame then the usual duration of the season. All to save some money for the league starting the season before Christmas over after New Year’s. Nevertheless, star players fell and those that could handle the setbacks rose to the top and Milwaukee did it better then anyone. Regardless of the circumstances, the Bucks are champions. Yes, they caught breaks, but champion teams need some level of luck to get to the top, that is where the perseverance pays off.
The Finals We Actually Wanted
The majority of the NBA world will give you the impression that a league without super teams is a good league to watch. On top of this, fans do not always want the same teams competing for the title. Whilst you could say that there was technically a super team in Brooklyn, they got eliminated in the second round. This NBA Finals had two teams and had five stars so to speak in this series. Take out Jrue Holiday and Chris Paul, these two teams were built through the draft and signing the right role players in free agency and maybe trades. Two small market teams where Phoenix had missed the last 10 playoffs and Milwaukee had not made the finals in almost 50 years. On top of all of this though, was a good finals series, probably the best the league has had in five years. This will be overshadowed by the injuries other teams had but that should be put aside for this finals series.
Giannis is 100% THAT Guy
If you had any doubt or hesitation whatsoever in giving Giannis this title or credit, there should now be zero doubt. This finals series by Giannis was record breaking. The first player ever to have 50 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a finals game (happened in the close out game). The two games before this he had one of the greatest blocks of all time and in game five, a huge alley oop which got Milwaukee home and taking a 3-2 lead. He is also now one of two players to win multiple MVP’s, a DPOY and a Finals MVP, with the other being Michael Jordan. And in a finals series, he is also the only player to average 30/10/5 on 60% shooting. This is the greatest closeout game in a finals debut since Magic Johnson in 1980. A truly remarkable playoff and finals performance by Giannis who now cements his place in the top three best players in the league and top three power forwards of all time.
Chris Paul’s Last Chance
Most people would tell you that Giannis had the most to gain these playoffs, but another acceptable answer to that would have been Chris Paul. The reason why its as equally acceptable is because of his age. Chris Paul has been known as a ‘winner’, his whole career, which is somewhat true. Likewise with LeBron but obviously not on the same scale, when he joins you, your team is a playoff contender, when he leaves you, you are not. The problem now for Chris Paul is that it seems awkward to be given the ‘winner’ tag and have zero championships. In fact, if you look at his playoff history, he has really been a choker. He is the first player to have given up four 2-0 leads (one of them happened when he broke his hand midway through a series). Along with this he has also blown a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately, being 36 years old, how much time do you really have left? With a young and up and coming western conference, will he make the finals again? That is not a guarantee. The only chance Paul might have to capture that elusive title, is through moving to a certain contender where he can maybe form a super team.
Khris Middleton, The Answer That’s Been in Front Of Us The Whole Time
In a piece written approximately two months ago, I highlighted that for Milwaukee to be able to take the next step, they needed someone to draw the attention from Giannis. For a while it was that they should be going after a superstar talent because that is the only way. These playoffs showed us that Khris Middleton is capable of being that player. The way the Bucks played on offence followed a similar model to the championship teams Shaquille O’Neal played on. For the most part it would be Shaq completely and utterly dominating the game. In crunch time, to avoid the ‘hack a Shaq’, the ball would be given to Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade where they clutch enough to control and finish the game. Likewise, the bucks let Giannis dictate the game on offence and then because of the similar inability to hit free throws, Middleton was given the keys to drive the game home. Many people, including myself were very sceptical of the max contract he was given a couple seasons ago, but that decision has paid off.
Aggressive Teams Win Championships
This usually applies in any professional sport and yes in contact sports this can be included for on the field, but this focus is for off the field. Let’s look at the last four NBA champions, The Golden State Warriors, even after going 73-9 in the regular season and just losing narrowly in seven games in the finals. They go out and clear cap space to sign Kevin Durant and they go onto back-to-back championships, and Durant wins both Finals MVP’s. The Toronto Raptors were stuck with the same 1st and 2nd round exits, they identified that they needed a proper superstar to get them over the top. In 2018, they made a gutsy trade for Kawhi Leonard who they were warned could only be a one-year rental before he leaves in free agency.
What happens? That one-year rental gave Toronto there first NBA Championship and Leonard won the Finals MVP. Last season, the Lakers wanted a superstar to pair with LeBron to take them to the top. The Lakers mortgaged their future in order to trade for Anthony Davis and they went onto be champions. Davis did not win the Finals MVP, but he was equally as great and important as LeBron for the entire playoffs. Now this season, you will find it funny why Jrue Holiday is being put in the same correlation as some of the other players mentioned but consider this. In terms of the organisation’s aggressiveness, Milwaukee traded three first round picks plus players to land Holiday which at the time was completely overs from the Bucks. Holiday did not win Finals MVP or was not as good as Giannis, but he had the toughest task of keeping the most influential player on both sides of the court at bay.
Holiday kept Chris Paul to a very minimal impact on the series after the second game. His defensive stands are what propelled the bucks to be in the position to come from 2-0 down. If you are a team that is looking particularly to win a championship next season, an aggressive trade is probably the formula at the moment.
After a rollercoaster season, it finally has all come to an end. Whilst the decision making throughout the season was questionable, the league did a really great job on staying the course and really limiting the number of positive cases of covid there were. Which is the most important thing. A playoffs that was nightmarish for most teams wondering what could have been if things went their way health wise. Next season the league should be much closer to normality in every aspect, and this is the first time in some time where there is no clear favorite or favorites going into next season. Predictions will of course be based mostly off moves made this off season. The Bucks for sure will not be going anywhere but teams that had high expectations, i.e., the Lakers and Nets will be back for redemption.
Some other teams that are on the cusp of making a big move into further contention like the 76ers, clippers, nuggets, can the hawks surprise again? Will the suns go back to the finals? Only three months until opening night again and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out until then.