Jude Magnotti 26’
EE Sports Columnist
This is it. The moment these players have been training for their entire lives. All the late nights spent shooting the basketball on a broken rim, all the countless hours spent practicing in the gym. Every single triumph, failure, and moment has all led to the stage that children across the world can only dream of making it to: The NBA Finals.
With the Dallas Mavericks gentlemen sweep of the Timberwolves, and the Celtics utter dismantling of an inexperienced Pacers, these two powerhouses find themselves matched up with only one opponent standing between them and the Larry O’Brien.
Looking back on the season, it comes as no surprise that the Celtics find themselves in this position. In the offseason, they traded for all-stars Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingus to add to the core Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. In the regular season, they racked up an unbelievable 64 wins on route to a 1st place finish in their conference. Heading into these playoffs, the C’s were without a doubt the favorite to add another banner to their illustrious boston history.
Now, they find themselves in a position to do just that and with Bill Russell’s legacy watching over them, the Celtics are once again the favorite to take home their 18th championship.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have a team that was not expected to be anywhere near this position. Just last year, the Dallas Mavericks had an awful season finishing with just 38 wins and missing the playoffs entirely. Mind that, this was with Luka Doncic playing at an MVP level and their recent acquisition of Kyrie Irving looming above.
Now, just a year after they rested Luka in the final game of the season to tank for a higher draft pick, the Mavs find themselves with 50 regular season wins and a finals matchup against the best team in the NBA. Needless to say, Luka has once again proved the doubters wrong and his averages of 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists have shown everyone that he is the undisputed best basketball player in the world (sorry Jokic).
Nevertheless, make no mistake that the Celtics are the unquestionable favorite in this series. The Mavericks are top-heavy with stars like Doncic and Irving, but Boston is able to match those stars with Tatum and Brown plus some absolutely elite depth in Holiday and White.
Dallas has done a great job at finding contributing role players like Derrick Jones Jr. and Daniel Gafford, but Boston’s absolutely loaded roster has got the odds stacked up against the Mavs. Still, there are more factors to consider here than just roster size.
For one, C’s big man Kristaps Porzingus has been injured for most of the playoffs. His status heading into game 1 is still unknown, but if the Celtics lose him they could be losing a valuable piece of their depth and size at the big man position. Additionally, there is an argument to be made that the Celtics are not battle-tested enough to face a team like the Mavs..
Starting in round 1 they played a Jimmy Butler-less Miami Heat team led by Tyler “White Boy ” Herro. Then in round 2 they played an injured Cavs who later lost Donovan Mitchell for the remaining games. And in round 3 it happened again after they took down a mediocre Pacers team without Tyrese Haliburton in games 3 and 4 (and still only barely won some of those games!).
However, at the end of the day the Celtics have still gotten the job done and there is only so much of an asterisk we can put on their playoff run (especially if they take home a championship).
With that being said, this does not mean that the C’s are going to take the Mavs lightly. Luka may have dodged Jokic in the playoffs, but he still took down two of the absolute best teams in the west in the Thunder and the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves series especially served as a wakeup call for the rest of the world to finally take the Mavs seriously. Their complete and utter dismantling of the team that had just beaten the defending champion was unbelievable and the duo of Kyrie and Luka has really come into its own this postseason.
I am expecting the series to be even all around, but I would not be surprised if we witnessed a few blowout wins by either team throughout. Still, there can only be one winner and if you ask me here is my final opinion: I believe that Luka will once again ball out doing everything he possibly can to lift his team to victory.
However, I believe that Luka will be let down by his teammates, specifically Kyrie Irving, who will surprisingly struggle in what is supposed to be a revenge matchup against his former team.
I think that the Mavs will put up a great fight, but I think that the Celtics depth will just be too much for Luka to handle on his own and they will wear him down in 7 games.
No matter what happens, one team will prosper, one team will die out. Some players will blossom, while some players wither away. This stage is where legends are made, legacies are altered, and champions show down. Grab your popcorn, heat up the chicken wings, and turn on that TV!!! Because it all comes down to this…
Photo courtesy: NBA.com