The NBA Finals is ready to tip off in just two days as it will feature the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics had an historic year and were the odds on favorites to win the Eastern Conference. The Mavericks, on the other hand, were a surprise team to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.
The Mavericks become only the second ever number 5 seed to make the NBA Finals and the first since the Miami Heat in 2020. After beating the Clippers in six games, the Thunder in six games, and the Timberwolves in five games, the Mavs have advanced to their first finals since 2011. 2011 was their one and only other appearance in the finals.
The Celtics had a much easier journey to this point than the Mavericks did as they breezed their way through the Eastern Conference. They were met with a lot of looming injuries to their opponents as they defeated the Heat in five games without Jimmy Butler, the Cavs in five games after Donovan Mitchell missed the final two games of the series, and swept the Pacers with Tyrese Haliburton missing the last two games of the series as well.
Despite the paths that these two teams took, the storylines for this series could not get any bigger. Obviously, it's the NBA Finals, nothing gets bigger than this in the basketball world. But what we are really excited to see is Kyrie Irving back in Boston once again. Irving told the Boston fans that he would be re-signing with the Celtics back in 2019, not on the other side of a finals matchup in 2024.
Since the end of the 2019 season, Boston fans have treated Irving with anything but respect and have fully displayed their pure hatred for Kyrie after his comments that were purely lies to them. I'm looking forward to seeing how he responds to the hostile Boston crowd for multiple games in this series.
For years on end this duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have struggled to obtain an 18th banner for the Celtics, but this year will be their best chance. This is the best Celtics team since 2008, the last time they won the NBA Finals, when they are fully healthy. Getting back Kristaps Porzingis is series changing for this team.
The Mavs have been on a great run this postseason after running into superstar after superstar looking to eliminate them. Facing Tatum and Brown will be nothing new for these Mavs with their experience this playoffs. I believe that the duo of Doncic and Irving is more-seasoned and outweighs the duo of Brown and Tatum. Both teams have extremely good depth and will need it if they want to lockdown the Larry O'Brien Trophy. I expect a great series between these two teams that will hopefully go six or seven games.
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