NBA playoffs 2021: Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns are on a one-of-a-kind path to the NBA Finals.
The Phoenix Suns reaching the NBA Finals is one of the most implausible happenings in the sport's history.
Let's just start there. Pick where you draw the line, whether it was their decade in a playoff-less pit before this season, or that they were 26-39 last year going into the Orlando, Florida, bubble, or that as late as April their championship chances were at +2,500.
It's a crazy turn regardless of the one-off nature of this season, with all its injuries and derailments. Almost as insane as Chris Paul posting the highest-scoring half of his career — 31 of his 41 points in the Suns' Game 6 130-103 triumph over the LA Clippers — in the second half of a closeout game to advance to the Finals.
There were innumerable acts that led to the Suns' victory and Paul carrying the Western Conference title trophy with tears in his eyes Wednesday night.
"We've seen the bottom of the bottom for multiple years," said Devin Booker, who won just 30% of his games and had six head coaches over his first five seasons in Phoenix.
"I've been through a lot of bulls---, honestly. I've put my head down and I've worked."
It feels like karma was at work for sure. This team has been burdened with awful luck dating back to 1969 when the Suns lost a coin flip for the chance to choose Lew Alcindor (who eventually changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Instead, they got Neal Walk. Jerry Colangelo, then the general manager, was so unhappy that he drove around aimlessly for hours after hearing the news over the phone.
In 1976, the Suns were tied 2-2 in the Finals before losing a triple-overtime game to the Boston Celtics in one of the most agonizing losses the league has experienced and were done in Game 6. In 1993, with MVP Charles Barkley, they ran into Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. In 2005, Joe Johnson broke his eye socket in the playoffs. In 2007, Steve Nash's unstoppable bloody nose and Amare Stoudemire's ban happened.
In a postseason that has seen superstars go down everywhere, Paul and Booker have managed to evade both significant injury and illness.
"I've been on the other end of so many losses. I know what that feels like," said Paul, who has seen three of his playoff runs end in injury.
"If you put the work in, you live with the outcome. We've worked. We're a work team. It was good to see it all come together."
Most teams who win at the top levels overcome their share of adversity. Who knows where the Suns stand in that regard, but they've had a lot.
Head coach Monty Williams was fired after leading the New Orleans Pelicans to the playoffs in 2015, a setback that seriously harmed his career.
Paul was moved to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019 and few anticipated he would have a chance to contend while playing out his deal. His last two All-Star seasons are an ultimate reply, with this Finals berth the crowning achievement in a Hall of Fame career.
The frosting on the cake is that he's leaning toward opting out of the $44 million final year of his agreement, league sources say, because he has been so excellent that he's now in a position to lock in a new deal for tens of millions more in Phoenix or somewhere. Now that is an answer.
Booker has battled with continuing disrespect, the odor of the team's failure rubbing off on his reputation and the smear that comes with a turnstile on the coach's office. This first playoff run, in which he's averaging 27.0 points per game, has drastically enhanced his status and certainly transformed his reputation permanently. He has a sure berth on Squad USA, and there will be a jet waiting on the runway after the Finals to instantly fly him to Tokyo as he's regarded a critical element of the national team.
You could keep going down the roster, from Cameron Payne, who started last season playing in China, to Cameron Johnson, who was mocked for being taken 20 spots too high in the draft, to Torrey Craig, who got cut by the Milwaukee Bucks in March.
The Suns' entire run is a story of surprising redemption — in astonishingly rapid form.
Last season, after the Suns closed on an 8-0 streak in the bubble that still left them a game out of the playoffs, Williams made an impassioned speech in a temporary locker room at Walt Disney World Resort.
"We want to be the kind of team that controls our own destiny," Williams said. "That's our next step."
Game 1 of the NBA Finals, no matter the opponent, will be in Phoenix next week. Whether they're a team of destiny or they're controlling it themselves, the Suns are writing a unique story.
"It's a long time coming," said Booker, his nose still bleeding postgame, appropriately sounding older than his 24 years. "We've been waiting on this moment right here."
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