The NBA Finals have arrived. After a long 2020-21 NBA regular season and playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns are the final two teams standing. The Bucks are looking to win their first title since 1971, and the Suns are seeking their first title in franchise history. Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
The rest of the NBA Finals schedule is fairly consistent. Game 2 will be on Thursday at the same channel and time as Game 1. Game 3 will be on Sunday, July 11, at 8 p.m. ET. The fourth game will be played on Wednesday, July 14, at 9 p.m. ET. If necessary, Game 5 is set for Saturday, July 17, Game 6 is set for Tuesday, July 20 and the final game is set for Thursday, July 22. Those games will start at 9 p.m. ET, and every game will be televised on ABC.
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The Bucks have finally reached the NBA Finals after coming up short the last few years. This year, Milwaukee got past the Miami Heat in the first round, The Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs. And they accomplished this without having two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for the last two games due to a knee injury.
“No letdowns, because the way Giannis plays, there are no letdowns,” Bucks guard Jrue Holiday said when talking about playing without Antetokounmpo. “He’s continually going to the basket, being aggressive on both ends of the floor. He brings so much to this team. He does so much for us that I feel like losing that would really be hard for us. So just continuing to be aggressive from minute zero to 48.”
The Suns entered the playoffs with the second-best record in the Western Conference. In the first round, the Suns took down the Los Angeles Lakers before getting past the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers in the next two rounds. This will be the third time the Suns will play in the Finals and the first since 1993.
“It’s the only professional team that has Phoenix in it,” Suns guard Devin Booker said to reporters this week. “Every other team is Arizona. So, Phoenix Suns is the baby franchise here and they love it with a passion. I’m wearing the shirt from ’93 right now. I think it started around that time to when they developed that, you hear people talk about, I remember when I watched Charles [Barkley] and them, like, you hear those stories at all times, and seeing the passion in their eyes when they’re telling the stories and even being at the bottom of the barrel for the past five years and them still showing up and showing love shows that same type of love that they have for this team.”
