THEY must win today or face the specter of losing everything in a battlefield that could instantly become their slaughterhouse.

That's the critical challenge confronting the Milwaukee Bucks in today's compelling Game 6 that they need to win to avoid a Game 7 against the Phoenix Suns in hostile-laden Arizona.

Just one game separates the Bucks from a 4-2 victory and end their 50-year quest of a first NBA crown since their 1971 triumph via a 4-0 sweep of the Baltimore Bullets.

Anytime, that's the easier job to accomplish for the Bucks than the two-game mission from today to Friday for the Suns, whose last stab at a title ended in a 4-2 defeat to the Chicago Bulls in 1993.

OK, you want history?

No, Michael Jordan did not score the winning shot in Chicago's 99-98 title-clincher 28 years ago.

The wide-open John Paxson did, receiving a kick out pass from Horace Grace and nailing the three that gave the Bulls the crown-clinching victory.

"That's instinct," said Paxson of his triple fired with 3.9 ticks left.  "You catch and you shoot.  I've done it hundreds of thousands of times in my driveway.  It's what I've practiced."

The Suns had the chance to extend the series to a Game 7.  But Grant blocked Kevin Johnson's game-winner from 15 feet at the buzzer, rendering irrelevant Charles Barkley's 21 points and 17 rebounds for Phoenix.

Never has an NBA player like Grant been stupendously mobbed and profusely hugged by his teammates after scoring only one point in a championship game.

And Jordan?  Well, he scored 9 of Chicago's measly 12 points in the final quarter, finishing with a game-high 33 points.  That baker's dozen output was the lowest in NBA Finals history for a champion team.

Will history repeat itself, the Suns, title-less in 53 years, succumbing once more to that Game 6 jinx today?

Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton must marshal the Suns impeccably, or the trio of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Game 5's big time hero Jrue Holiday would be on their way to giving the Bucks their second title after half-a-century of waiting.

Roll in the dice, fellas.

THAT'S IT   With Japan set to host the Tokyo Olympics beginning on Friday, July 23, despite almost worldwide objections to its staging due to the pandemic, the Japanese are proving to be the most stubborn race in history. Good luck!… We have 19 entries in 11 events, with gymnast Carlos Yulo, lifter Hidilyn Diaz and boxer Eumir Marcial listed as the brightest prospects to win the Philippines's first Olympics gold medal—a sentimental quest spanning 97 years from our first stint in the 1924 Paris Games.  Godspeed!…Happy birthday (July 21) to New Zealand-based Danny "Sir John" Isla, and Malaya Sol M. Sadiwa.  MayaSoh marks a milestone today as she turns Sweet 16.  The day she was born, MayaSoh's Nanay, Malaya, received a bouquet of flowers from Sir John at St. Luke's Medical Center, Q.C. How sweet!  Does that still happen today?

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