We’re into the thick of it during the Conference Finals, and as both series are underway between the final four teams left out of the 16 that entered the field, there are some clear-cut favorites as both series unfold.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns have played two games, but it seems that the series is halfway over. Team leader Chris Paul has yet to play in this series due to him being held out for COVID-19 health and safety protocols after he contracted COVID-19 after being vaccinated, but the Suns have won two games against the Clippers. So while the Clips stay behind the 8-ball with their injury woes – Kawhi Leonard will continue to be out with a sprained knee – Chris Paul and the Suns could not be healthier, and Paul himself – a former Clipper that’ll look to exact revenge on the franchise that traded him away in 2017 -with these Suns, they look to escape the Staples Center with a win and advance to the NBA Finals with only two wins left needed.
And on the Eastern side, the Hawks and Bucks played their first game of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, and to the shock of just about everyone, Trae Young’s Atlanta Hawks upset the Milwaukee Bucks as Young proceeded to put on a breakout performance of 49 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds against arguably the best team left in the playoffs. It’s only been one game, and a sample size isn’t too quantifiable as well as justifiable this early in a series where adjustments will be made frequently.
We’ll get to analyzing the two teams who have the distinct advantage in their respective series in this week’s Power Rankings.
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1. No. 2 Phoenix Suns
(51-21, Won 4-2 vs. No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers in First Round, Won 4-0 vs. No. 3 Denver Nuggets in WCSF, Up 2-0 vs. No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers in WCF, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)
Up a full two games over the No.4 seeded Clippers in their first Western Conference Finals appearance in a decade, the Phoenix Suns are rolling. Devin Booker is blossoming into the next great superstar in the NBA, and even more importantly, DeAndre Ayton has shown he cannot be contained or neutralized by the Clippers frontcourt – indicative of his shocking game-winning throwdown off a lob.
Clippers big man Ivica Zubac has an even plus/minus of zero, which isn’t good or bad but largely contributed to Ayton’s presence on the offensive glass and in transition, in which the Clippers have shown they lack the strength and athleticism to match and better the effort he’s put in (22.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 2 games in the Western Conference Finals) during Phoenix’s holding serve at home in this series.
And not to say that it’s been two lucky outings in which everything fell into place for the Suns; this young and growing team has held the third-highest home win total all season, so them winning two straight against an undermanned Clippers team wasn’t exactly expected but certainly eye-opening.
Now, Chris Paul will return to his team to potentially go up three games to none for the first game of this series inside the Staples Center since he finished up his quarantine period, and also keep in mind: the Suns owned the best road record of any team in the NBA this season.
With how highly Devin Booker’s been achieving in these playoffs, it’s remissable to skip over how quintessential Cameron Payne has been all postseason but none more than in this series with Chris Paul quarantining at home. Payne has shown a fearlessness unabated by the magnamity of the moment, stepping up in big ways by averaging 20 points, 9 assists and 2 rebounds in the first 2 games in the 2021 Western Conference Finals. Whether he’s dipping his head and going at the rim, taking his man off the dribble to score in the 8-foot range with a mid-range pullup/floater/scoop layup, he’s shown that the adversity of the backup-turned-starter’s role is practically non-existent.
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2. No. 5 Atlanta Hawks
(41-31, Won 4-1 vs. No. 4 New York Knicks in First Round, Won 4-3 vs. No. 1 Philadelphia 76ers in ECSF, Up 1-0 in ECF vs. No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks, Last Week’s Ranking: N/A)
This year’s playoffs have adopted a theme of the youthful uprising, and Trae Young is on the forefront of the reverberation of the memo.
In his first-ever Conference Finals appearance, the 22-year-old 6-foot-1 Point Guard indomitably snatched a win from the unrelenting hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, defensively stout and all, on Wednesday night with a performance for the ages – 48 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists against the third-best defense in these playoffs, becoming the first scorer to put 40 on two-way star Jrue Holiday’s head all postseason.
Even more noteworthy: Trae put up those numbers in an efficient manner off of 17-for-34 shooting through four quarters. Young had 32 through three when matched up onto Holiday, who would’ve had a better shot rolling a perfect strike with his feet than stay in front of Trae for the 29 minutes and five seconds he guarded him for during Game 1.
Head Coach Nate McMillan saw an opportunity to target Bucks big man Brook Lopez when he was in drop coverage, and proceeded to work the in-between game, utilizing the floater with ease and when switched onto an additional lengthy body in Mike Budenholzer’s defensive schemes to stop the Pick and Roll, it took Trae little effort to get by whoever was in front of him, while he casually dished some lobs and pocket passes to both Clint Capela and second-highest scorer John Collins, who floated around Young all night.
Young finished Game 1 as a net-positive +10 due to his aggressiveness in both halves and especially in the fourth quarter, where the Oklahoma standout scored his remaining 16 points by knocking down some simple runners and getting to the line, where he shot over 83 percent in 12 attempts at the stripe. His feel for the game was accentuated when the drop coverage went away, and Young looked to be in more of a facilitating role to take pressure off of himself.
What Mike Budenholzer will do to diminish Young’s imprint on Game 2 is yet to be seen, but as great as Atlanta’s offense was last night, they showed very little tenacity to neutralize Giannis Antetokounmpo from imposing his will inside the paint. It’s going to be a series of adjustments from two coaches who are set to have a masterclass of a series, and Game 2 will give us more of a broadened perspective on who really has the edge in a competitive series like this one.
Source: pngkey.com
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