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SB Nation Reacts: If the Clippers won’t win NBA Finals, then fans think Suns will

Also, fans think health mattered a ton all playoffs, no surprise.

By Kyle Thele and Alicia Rodriguez

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2021 NBA Playoffs - Phoenix Suns v LA Clippers Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged-in Los Angeles Clippers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.

Off the top, I’m going to be real with you: If you’re a Clippers fan, you may not want to read the following, after they fell in the Western Conference Finals to the Phoenix Suns.

But if you’re a brave soul, continue on: Before Game 1 of the NBA Finals tipped off, fans around the country were asked to predict who they thought would win the championship. According to the latest SB Nation Reacts survey, nearly three-fourths of fans believe the Suns will win it all.

Perhaps in a case of “If my team can’t win, I hope the team that beat us goes all the way,” the Suns are big favorites, including among many Clippers fans.

If the Suns do win, it will be in no small part due to Chris Paul. According to 58 percent of fans surveyed, the Suns point guard is going to win NBA Finals MVP.

Behind Paul is his Suns teammate Devin Booker, with 17 percent of the vote. The Bucks player most likely to get the award, according to fans, is Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Fans expect the two teams to put on a good show. Nearly two-thirds of fans think the series will last six games, with another 18 percent that believe it will go the distance.

While a six- or seven-game series would be undoubtedly entertaining, fans aren’t sure these are necessarily the best two teams in the NBA. 76 percent of fans think injuries have changed the outcome of how the playoffs would have worked out. Given Giannis’ return for Game 1 after a knee issue, and the fact that pretty much every single team in the playoffs has seen key players miss games, many out for the duration of their team’s postseason run, like Kawhi Leonard, that’s not a surprise. The winner of the NBA Finals will win it fair and square, but they will also benefit from being one of the healthiest teams when it mattered this season, too.

To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.

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