Who Has the Edge at Every Position in the 2021 NBA Finals?
0 of 7  Aaron Gash/Associated Press  Just like we all predicted, without a shadow or hint or even the slightest bit of doubt, the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns are set to square off in the 2021 NBA Finals. This flippancy is mostly performative. Few, if any, forecasted a Bucks-Suns Finals, but the matchup isn't random relative to the regular-season results. Phoenix turned in the second-best record and entrenched itself as one of the league's best two-way teams after trading for Chris Paul. Milwaukee went all-in on Jrue Holiday after churning out the Eastern Conference's best record in each of the past two years. Granted, neither team arrives here via paths foreseen. The Suns survived a still-harrowing Western Conferencea Finals-bound trek that ran through opponents with missing stars and also featured injuries to their own two best players. The Bucks swept last postseason's boogeyman, the Miami Heat, in the first round. They then came one shoe size short of losing to a shorthanded Brooklyn Nets squad in the semifinals. Milwaukee didn't have Giannis Antetokounmpo for the final two games of the Eastern Conference Finals but still advanced. Weirdness doesn't warrant asterisk talk. Every team dealt with, let's call it, stuff. Milwaukee and Phoenix absolutely belong here, and if they're both fully healthy, this figures to be one hell of a series. Naturally, then, our Finals prep work must feature a matchup-by-matchup overview. Positional designations are imperfect these days. Specific roles and defensive assignments are more fluid and indefinable than ever. We will be using the spot at which players start as our guide, and then look at the benches in totality. Names are pitted against one another in position only; the assumption won't be that each player is the primary defender for the other unless appropriate. All verdicts will be rendered based exclusively on what's happened in this year's regular season and playoffs. Predictive elements of each head-to-head (like health) will be factored in wherever necessary. Let's get cracking.