2020-21 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo was named Finals MVP after a dominant series capped by a playoff career-high 50-point, 14-rebound, 5-block performance in the series-clinching Game 6.

Series context

The 2020-21 season was played on a condensed, roughly 72-game schedule and in arenas with limited fan capacity as the NBA continued operating amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a step back toward normalcy after the prior season's bubble format. The Milwaukee Bucks, led by two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo alongside Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday (acquired in a major offseason trade), entered the Finals seeking to erase the sting of consecutive early playoff exits in 2019 and 2020 despite having the league's best regular-season record in those years. The Phoenix Suns, meanwhile, completed a remarkable turnaround under coach Monty Williams, reaching the Finals for the first time since 1993 behind the backcourt pairing of Devin Booker and 36-year-old veteran point guard Chris Paul, who was making his first career Finals appearance after 16 NBA seasons. Phoenix stormed out to a 2-0 series lead behind strong performances from Paul and Booker, and it appeared the Suns were on their way to the franchise's first title. Milwaukee, however, mounted one of the great comeback runs in Finals history, becoming just the fifth team ever to overcome a 2-0 deficit and win the championship. A pivotal moment came in Game 4 when Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered a spectacular chase-down block on Deandre Ayton to preserve a Milwaukee win and swing momentum decisively toward the Bucks, who also won Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead. Antetokounmpo played through a hyperextended left knee suffered in the Eastern Conference Finals, and doubts lingered about his availability for the Finals, but he not only played, he dominated. In the closeout Game 6 in Milwaukee on July 20, 2021, he scored 50 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots, tying Bob Pettit's NBA record for points scored in a series-clinching Finals game. Milwaukee won 105-98 to capture the franchise's first championship since 1971, ending a 50-year title drought. The series also closed the book on Chris Paul's championship pursuit in painful fashion: he became the first player in NBA playoff history to lose four separate series after his team had held a 2-0 lead. For Milwaukee, the title validated years of regular-season excellence and cemented Giannis Antetokounmpo, still only 26 years old, as one of the era's defining superstars. The Suns finished the regular season 51-21 as the West's No. 2 seed, their first winning season since 2013-14, while the Bucks entered as the East's No. 3 seed at 46-26. Chris Paul's road to the Finals carried its own health scare: he entered the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols during the Western Conference Finals against the Clippers and missed a game in that series before returning in time to help close it out. Giannis Antetokounmpo's own availability for Finals Game 1 was not confirmed until roughly an hour before tip-off given the severity of his hyperextended knee. Milwaukee's Game 5 win was fueled by a 43-point second quarter, a Finals record for points scored in a quarter by a road team. Despite an uptick from the pandemic-altered 2020 bubble Finals, the series averaged a 5.2 television rating and 9.91 million viewers on ABC, the second-lowest-rated Finals on record at the time, though the Game 6 clincher peaked at 16.54 million viewers, the largest NBA audience since 2019.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 2021 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 2021 NBA Finals
• Sports Media Watch - 2021 NBA Finals Ratings