Of course, Milwaukee also lost two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to a hyperextended knee midway through Game 4 and still managed to win Games 5 and 6 handily behind bona fide supporting actors Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez.
WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS 2021 SERIES
Instead, the Bucks faced the fifth-seeded Hawks, who lost rising superstar Trae Young to an ankle injury in Games 4 and 5 of a series that should have been shorter. And in the conference finals, Milwaukee avoided the Philadelphia 76ers, who could not survive a severely limiting knee injury to Joel Embiid and an absolute offensive meltdown by Ben Simmons. They, too, benefited from injuries to James Harden and Kyrie Irving in the second round, and still required overtime in Game 7 to beat Kevin Durant. The Bucks exorcized the demons of last year's playoffs in the first round, sweeping a Miami Heat team that had ousted them in the 2020 Eastern Conference semifinals in embarrassing fashion. He is representative of a team that plays hard but smart, rarely beating themselves and following the lead of a player-coach dynamic between Paul and Monty Williams that dates back a decade and became one of the great stories of these playoffs. The Suns feature effective backups at every position but Ayton's, an apparent weakness that has yet to bite them, because the 22-year-old 7-footer has largely avoided foul trouble. Their starting lineup fits together as well as any in the league, anchored by Paul's unrivaled command of the floor, Booker's pure shooting ability and DeAndre Ayton's ascent as a true center whose game transcends modern offenses. Phoenix has been in the playoffs what Phoenix was during the regular season. The sum total of their rotation's lost games is three.
The Suns still may have rolled through healthy editions of those teams - all of whom were inferior during the regular season - and they have dealt with their own (albeit more fortunate) set of circumstances in the playoffs, including Chris Paul's shoulder injury, his COVID-19 diagnosis, Devin Booker's broken nose, Cam Payne's rolled ankle and Cameron Johnson's illness.
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