Throughout the NBA Playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks were often the best team on paper but were so frustrating to watch as their play often didn’t reflect that balance in their series against the Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and the Phoenix Suns through the first three games.

The Bucks were one of the league’s top defensive teams, but that that wasn’t a problem, it was on the offensive end that caused NBA heads to scratch their heads. With so much firepower, they often looked completely stunted offensively.

Was the offense to come from Khris Middleton? Or was it Giannis? Oh look, Jrue Holiday being aggressive and using his size to get inside. Now Brook Lopez looks so dominant inside yet none of that comes together. It seems like if one player is having a good game, the other three can’t. Their inconsistency didn’t just frustrate their fans, but if you were taking advantage of betting offers to put some money down on Giannis and company, you definitely didn’t do so with 100% confidence.

No identity vs. clear identity

With four all-stars on their roster, the Bucks have more individually-talented players on the offensive end than the Phoenix Suns. Yet we watch the team struggle to find consistent offense during their playoff run.

When things are clicking, the Bucks look like a championship team, but when they’re not, they look like a team that doesn’t have an clear identity on the offensive side. Yes, two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is the focal point and superstar, but the story is the same this post season.

When teams figured out defensive strategies that slowed Giannis’ heads-down dives to the basket, Antetokounmpo has mostly-failed at finding an effective counter. When he’s been stonewalled on his way to the basket, he settles or backs it out which stagnates the offense even more.

On the other side, the Phoenix Suns have no problem finding shots within their offense. We’ve watched as the Bucks manufacture shots while the Phoenix Suns get comfortable shot after comfortable shot. That’s because Phoenix has defined roles and expectations on the offensive end. Devin Booker is their scorer while Chris Paul runs the offense and navigates when a play breaks down. Deandre Ayton picks, rolls, grabs offensive rebounds and establishes position when their guards are doubled. Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder sit at the three-point line waiting to shoot open jumpers. That’s it.

Antetokounmpo finally figures it out

Going this deep into the playoffs, championship contenders like the Bucks usually have a clear expectation on what their offense will look like from start of the game to finish. However, the Bucks were too unpredictable on offense and that’s why many believed they would ultimately lose to the Suns.

Then something happened mid-series. The Bucks found that they were much bigger and stronger than the Phoenix Suns and they changed up their offensive approach. Now it’s not unusual for an NBA team to make adjustments, in fact this deep into the Playoffs, you don’t make it this far without making tweaks to your offensive plays or shorten your roster, but what the Bucks changed up was as dramatic a shift as you’ll see in the NBA Finals.

The most obvious shift came from Milwaukee’s two-time MVP Antetokounmpo. The 26-year old completely changed his strategy against the Suns. He no longer relied on always trying to get downhill and barrel through the defense, instead he was more deliberate in how he got into the paint as he established position in the high post and used his speed and length to get the basket. When he or his teammates missed  shots, he then used that same length, height and strength to attack the offensive boards where he converted into several and-ones.

Not only that, he forced the defense to collapse on him when he got into the middle and this resulted in easy layups for Pat Connaughton and Jrue Holiday who dove into the dunkers spot. That, or Antetokounmpo would whip it to the corners for open threes from Bobby Portis or Connaughton.

We would be remised if we didn’t mentions Antetokounmpo defensive efforts throughout the series. The more rhythm he found on offense seemed to energize him on defense; resulting in several memorable blocks at the rim.

Oh, and he started hitting a much higher percentage of his free throws.

Antetokounmpo’s figuring out how to counter started in game two of the NBA Finals. After losing to Phoenix in game one by 13 points in which he scored 20 points on eleven shots, Giannis dominated the Suns from there scoring 42, 41, 26, 32 and 50 points after that. Since game one, he averaged 38.2 points, 12.4 rebounds (4.4 of those were offensive rebounds), 5.2 assists, 2 blocks, and shot 62.5% from the field and 67% from the free throw line.

All those adjustments and contributions gave the Milwaukee Bucks the first NBA championship in half-a-century and Antetokounmpo the overwhelming 2021 NBA Finals MVP