[mm-video type=video id=01fb2mf3wfvbqydzjexj playlist_id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fb2mf3wfvbqydzjexj/01fb2mf3wfvbqydzjexj-8c200672aa7d8698e652858e2cf88685.jpg]
Like their last trip to the NBA Finals in 1993, the Phoenix Suns entered the 2021 edition with home-court advantage. Also like last time, the Suns are faced with a 3-2 deficit. The difference is the 2-3-2 format the finals had in 1993 is no more, so the Suns will have to beat the Milwaukee Bucks on the road in Game 6 to send the series back to Phoenix for a decisive Game 7. Undoubtedly, a tough task is at hand.
However, home-court advantage was anything but for the Suns in the 1993 finals as they lost all three games on their floor to the Chicago Bulls. None of those losses hurt more than the last one. With the Suns clinging to a two-point lead in the final seconds, Bulls guard and Notre Dame product John Paxson was found wide open behind the 3-point line. Paxson calmly sank the championship-clinching shot from there, and as the people involved with that Suns team will attest, it never should have happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsffXQmpwDY
To make things even more eerie, the Suns are facing another Notre Dame alumnus with a knack for 3-point shooting this time around. That alumnus is Pat Connaughton, and he’s already proven he can hit 3s in crunch time in this series. The only way history can repeat itself any further is if Connaughton makes his own legendary 3-pointer to give the Bucks their first championship in 50 years. In that case, the Suns better pray they don’t face an Irish product the next time they get this far.
[lawrence-related id=30776]