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The matchup for the 2021 NBA Finals is already set as the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks will begin their battle on July 6th. It is bound to be a thrilling affair between the two teams as they fight for the Larry O'Brien trophy, but it is certainly not a matchup that was expected at the start of the year.
Even though the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks were in the Top 3 of their respective conferences, few would have guessed they would make it to the finals before the start of the 2020-21 NBA season.
During the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns faced the favored LA Lakers in the first round. It looked as if Monty Williams' team were headed for a first-round exit against the reigning champions. However, the Suns overcame Chris Paul's shoulder injury early in the series and took advantage of Anthony Davis' late injury to seal the deal.
5 Duels that were not expected to happen in NBA Finals history
The Milwaukee Bucks had a similar situation in the second round of the NBA Playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets had their 'Big Three' with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, but both Harden and Irving faced injury problems during the series and missed games.
Though the Nets always had two out of their three stars, the Milwaukee Bucks imposed their will in a stellar seven-game series.
To their credit, both the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks did their homework and had to cope with important players missing games too. Chris Paul missed the first two games of the Western Conference Finals as he was placed in the NBA's health and safety protocols.
Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo injured his left knee during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals and his availability for Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals remains to be seen. The two-time MVP's situation was described as a "day-to-day thing" by coach Mike Budenholzer.
Though the matchup is a surprising one given the pre-season odds, the 2021 NBA Finals are still bound to be highly entertaining.
In this article, we will take a look at NBA Finals history and take five matchups that were not expected at the start of the respective campaigns.
#5 1990 NBA Finals
The 'Bad Boy' Detroit Pistons played in their third consecutive NBA Finals in the 1989-90 season and looked to become NBA champions once again. This was expected by many at the start of the NBA season. However, the Portland Trail Blazers were not fancied as potential finalists until it actually happened.
Magic Johnson's LA Lakers, in their first season without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, were looking to play in their fourth consecutive NBA Finals that year. It would have also been their third consecutive finals against the Detroit Pistons. A 63-19 regular-season record and the top seed in the league was a good start for Johnson and company.
However, the MVP and the LA Lakers were eliminated in the second round of the NBA Playoffs by the Phoenix Suns. The third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers made their way to the WCF, meanwhile, after beating the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.
Portland then took Phoenix down in the Western Conference Finals in six games to advance to the NBA Finals. In the East, things were easier to predict, with the 'Bad Boys' facing Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference and winning the series in seven games.
Eventually, the Detroit Pistons won their second consecutive NBA championship in a five-game NBA Finals series win over the Portland Trail Blazers and Clyde Drexler.
Detroit Pistons' Isiah Thomas earned Finals MVP honors.
#4 1986 NBA Finals
The 1985-86 NBA season happened in the middle of the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird era. The LA Lakers and Boston Celtics had met in the NBA Finals in the previous two campaigns, with each team winning once.
That season, the Boston Celtics were one of the best teams in league history. Their tremendous 67-15 regular-season record secured them home-court advantage throughout the postseason. The Eastern Conference postseason saw Boston go 11-1 and reach the NBA Finals.
However, arch-rivals 'Showtime' LA Lakers could not reach the NBA Finals. The top-seeded LA team was taken down by the 'Twin-Tower' Houston Rockets of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon in the Western Finals.
Houston won the Western Conference Finals in five games, behind Sampson's unbelievable shot at the end of Game 5 in dramatic style. Eventually, the Boston Celtics handed Houston a defeat in six games, exactly as they had done in the previous meeting between the two teams in the NBA Finals.
#3 1981 NBA Finals
Neither the reigning NBA champions, Magic Johnson's LA Lakers, nor the East champions from 1980, Julius Erving's Philadelphia 76ers, managed to make it to the 1981 NBA Finals.
The Lakers were the third seed of the West, but they fell in the first round of the NBA Playoffs against Moses Malone and the 40-42 Houston Rockets. On the other end, Philly was also the third-seeded team in their conference, with Larry Bird's Boston Celtics leading the conference with a 62-20 record (tied with Philly, but the record against division rivals favored the C's).
Boston and Philadelphia had an all-time great battle in the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series and reach the NBA Finals.
In the West, the Houston Rockets got hot in the NBA Playoffs and Moses Malone guided the team to the NBA Finals, with Calvin Murphy also performing well. The Rockets were the third team in league history to reach the NBA Finals with a losing record and the most recent to do so.
In the championship series, the Boston Celtics won their first title of the 1980s in six games, with Cedric Maxwell winning the Finals MVP award.
#2 1999 NBA Finals
The lockout-shortened 1998-99 NBA season had several unknowns. Not only was it a 50-game regular season, it was also the first season since Michael Jordan's second retirement from the NBA.
The San Antonio Spurs, in Tim Duncan's sophomore year, led the NBA with a 37-13 record. Duncan and David Robinson guided the team to a great regular season. Even though they had the third-best pre-season odds to win the title, the Spurs' roll through the Western Conference Playoffs was impressive.
They played against Kevin Garnett's Minnesota Timberwolves and then took on an LA Lakers side boasting Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in its ranks. Finally, they also had to play the deep Portland Trail Blazers. But the Spurs were unfazed and went 11-1 on their way to the NBA Finals across all three ties.
Shocking results occurred in the Eastern Conference as the eighth-seeded New York Knicks put up a historic run to the NBA Finals. The Knicks, led by Patrick Ewing (initially), Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston, initiated their run with a thrilling 3-2 win over the top-seeded Miami Heat. Houston scored the game-winning shot in the final second.
The Knicks then got hot and swept the Atlanta Hawks in the second round before taking down arch-rival Reggie Miller and his Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Without Ewing, the Knicks fell to the dominant San Antonio Spurs in a five-game NBA Finals series. The Spurs started their long-term dynasty with the 1999 NBA championship, with a dominant 15-2 record in the NBA Playoffs (fifth-highest winning percentage in postseason history).
Tim Duncan won the first of his three Finals MVP trophies in 1999, and the San Antonio Spurs won the first of their five NBA championships.
#1 2021 NBA Finals
In most of the NBA Finals we've already mentioned in this piece, only one of the teams made an unexpected run to the NBA's biggest stage. However, in the 2021 NBA Finals, neither team was expected to do so when the campaign began.
Still, both the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks have earned their right to play for the Larry O'Brien trophy. They have displayed consistency throughout the campaign, and both were among the best teams in their respective conferences for the entire season.
Moreover, both sides took down oppositions that were expected to play in the NBA Finals. While the Suns defeated the LA Lakers and LA Clippers, the Bucks eliminated the Brooklyn Nets in the second round.
The 2021 NBA Finals will also have plenty of talent on the court, with arguably two first-ballot Hall-of-Famers in Chris Paul and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Devin Booker could also enter that bracket if he continues to play to his capacity in the regular season and in the postseason, where he is playing for the first time in his career.
It is also a highly interesting and refreshing matchup, as stars on both sides are looking at their greatest chance to win an NBA championship. For the Suns' Chris Paul, this is definitely the biggest series of his 16-year NBA career. On the other hand, the likes of Antetokounmpo and Booker are young stars who should not take their and the Bucks' current position for granted.
