The NBA Finals are for the two best teams in each conference to decide who is the top team.
This year has the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks as those top two teams.
However, some do not see them as the top teams in the league.
In fact, some believe that other teams should have made the NBA Finals.
Certain teams failed to reach the Finals for different reasons.
The main reason for all of this could be due to several injuries that hurt a multitude of teams.
All these NBA stars have missed game time due to injuries suffered during these playoffs 🙏 pic.twitter.com/cSseSSOc1a
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 30, 2021
There were three NBA teams that most likely should have been in the Finals this year.
Sadly, they did not and had to make this list.
3. Los Angeles Lakers
The defending champions heading into this season were the Los Angeles Lakers.
Expectations for them were to make it to the Finals once again.
They still had LeBron James and Anthony Davis; probably the best two-man combination in all of basketball.
However, injuries hurt them early.
Both of their big superstars missed significant time during the regular season.
That led them to the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
Regardless of their high seed, we still expected for them to win multiple rounds at the minimum.
After the first three games in their first-round matchup against the Suns, it looked like they were in full control of the series.
That changed when Davis hurt his groin and was never the same.
"It gets better every day. Any movement starts from the groin area. Walking, whatever it is, it always aggravates that area. The treatment helps, the exercises help. I'm getting better, hopefully tomorrow I can get cleared."
Anthony Davis on his groin injury. #Lakers pic.twitter.com/RIYeT1abKM
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 2, 2021
The injury was too painful for Davis to play.
He tried to play in Game 6, but he couldn’t do it.
The Lakers had the chance, but the injury to Davis derailed their chances.
2. Los Angeles Clippers
The other team in Los Angeles also had a great chance of being in the Finals.
This Los Angeles Clippers were rolling until Kawhi Leonard hurt his knee.
We still do not know the severity of the injury, but it was enough for him to miss the entire Western Conference Finals.
Kawhi Leonard will not be returning in the series vs Phoenix do to his knee injury which seems to be a torn ACL. Game 6 tonight at 9. #Game6 #Greenviewsports
— Greenview Sports (@greenviewsport1) July 1, 2021
Leonard was on a tear during the playoffs.
He was shooting 57 percent from the field, while averaging 30 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
There was nobody stopping Leonard from dominating the game.
He was ready to carry the Clippers all the way.
That injury changed everything.
Even without Leonard, the Clippers took the Suns to six games in the Western Conference Finals.
Imagine what they would have looked like if Leonard was healthy.
1. Brooklyn Nets
The Eastern Conference had the team with the best shot to win the title and that was the Brooklyn Nets.
No other team possessed three superstars that can all score at will.
The Nets had just that.
Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden all on one team seems like a cheat code.
That is exactly what it was looking like through the playoffs.
The Nets looked poised to bulldoze through the competition in the Eastern Conference.
However, Game 1 in their second-round series against the Bucks saw Harden leave the game after one minute.
Then Game 3 saw Irving twist his ankle and he had to miss the rest of the series.
Kyrie Irving appeared to roll his ankle while landing on the foot of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Irving limped to the locker room on his own. pic.twitter.com/CTxMM9s4nq
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 13, 2021
They were easily beating the Nets, even without Harden, for the first two games.
Irving getting hurt in Game 3 forced them to rush Harden back from his injury.
The Nets still were one win away from advancing and potentially still making it to the Finals.
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