Chris Paul waited a long Hall of Fame career to play in the NBA Finals. And when he finally got there, Paul didn’t waste his chance.
The Suns point guard abused and embarrassed Milwaukee’s defense in Tuesday’s 118-105 Game 1 victory, dropping a smooth 32 points with nine assists on 12-of-16 shooting. The 36-year-old scored 16 points in the game-breaking third quarter, when the Suns took a 20-point advantage and grabbed Game 1 by the throat.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s late addition to Milwaukee’s lineup wasn’t enough to carry the visitors, who have dropped the first game in three consecutive series. Earlier Tuesday, Antetokounmpo was classified as “doubtful” because of a hyperextended knee. The two-time MVP suffered the injury in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, then missed the ensuing two contests against the Hawks (both Bucks victories).
But he recovered and was active early Tuesday, securing a chasedown block in the second quarter that will make all the highlight shows. Ultimately, though, Antetokounmpo’s 20 points and 17 rebounds were the sidebar to a dynamic performance from the Suns backcourt, with Devin Booker’s 27 points complementing Paul’s exquisite performance.
The Suns feasted in the pick-and-roll, with Paul and Booker taking turns exploiting Milwaukee’s defenders. Brook Lopez, the slow-footed center, was the main target and his inept perimeter defense prompted Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer to alter his scheme to drop coverage.
It didn’t work.
The Bucks cut the deficit to seven in the fourth quarter, but Phoenix responded with a 16-8 run to ice their first Finals victory since 1993. Suns center DeAndre Ayton controlled the paint with 19 rebounds and 22 points.
The Bucks had no answers.
Tuesday also represented the first NBA Finals game in 15 years without either LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or Steph Curry. A combination of passing torches and a funky condensed COVID season resulted in a surprising Finals matchup between two small market squads with zero combined titles in the last 50 years (and zero combined players who previously won a title).
The West was a mess all season and marred by a midseason injury to LeBron. Phoenix emerged with Paul as the veteran leader. The Nets were favored in the East, but injuries to Kyrie Irving and James Harden in the playoffs cleared Milwaukee’s path.
Whether this affects public interest in the Finals remains to be seen by the TV ratings. Unrelated, NBA commissioner Adam Silver estimated the league lost roughly 1/3 of its revenue last season because of the pandemic-inspired empty arenas.
Still, Silver said the losses were less than the projections.
“We did somewhat better than we initially projected,” Silver said before Game 1. “As you recall, I think I had said at the beginning of the season that roughly 40 percent of our typical revenue is attributed to not just ticket sales but those revenue streams that come from the related activities in arenas. Because of our ability to get fans back in the arenas for the playoffs, as great as that’s been, it’s a relatively small portion of the season in terms of number of games. So I think now we don’t have the exact numbers yet, but maybe we’ll be down roughly a third in revenue, something around there, instead of 40 percent.
“And so no question, the league will incur significant losses for the past two years.”