NBA Finals Preview
The matchup between the five seeded team in the west against the best team in basketball. Of course we all saw this coming, said nobody to start the season. First and foremost, Dallas deserves a ton of credit. They dismantled the top seeded western conference team in OKC and made a vaunted talented core in Minnesota look human. That last game in particular wasn’t even a real contest. It was varsity against the JV. On the flip side, most expected the Celtics to be in this situation and rightfully so. A shake up was in order and it worked wonders for them. Now that it all comes down to this, what do we need to know? Let’s break it all down.
Dallas
Luka Doncic is most likely the best player in the series. By now we know what he is capable of with his dynamic passing and lethal step back shot. He and Kyrie Irving on multiple occasions each had 30+ points. The Mavericks have also seen players beyond the big two step up. PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford went from one of the worst teams in the league in Washington to becoming solid contributors. Derek Lively has come alive as well and his finger prints are all over everything Dallas has done in the playoffs.
Dallas can get exposed defensively. Luka and Kyrie don’t really play defense. Similar to Steph Curry, if you make these two work for everything and work them hard on the defensive end, you should be able to slow them down. Do not let the big two get into a rhythm or this series will be over quick. But keep in mind that Luka is good at drawing fouls. Do the Celtics want to risk one of their best players getting two quick fouls in the first six minutes? Probably not. My early guess is that Jrue Holiday will guard Luka most of the time. For going up against Kyrie, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a committee approach. But, since Derek White has earned the title best defensive guard in the league, I would let him lead the charge in that department. Kyrie has a lot of moves, but D-White is disciplined enough not to bite.
Boston
Let’s make a few things clear. The Celtics are the team with the most talent in this series. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need to come up huge and they can do it. Tatum needs to make sure he doesn’t get caught up with the refs and the foul calls. If he starts complaining he won’t get back on defense and will get a technical foul. Stay focused. They will also need Kristaps Porzingas to win. KP got hurt in round one against Miami and we haven’t seen him since. The Celtics will need his rim protecting and shooting, or they will not win. You will also need for the secondary players to impact the game. Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet in particular, assuming Kornet is ready to go. KP will be probably be on a minutes restriction and Al Horford will need to have his time managed. The Celtics need Kornet now more than ever. Pritchard earned his contract in the offseason, and he’ll have to keep proving he was worth it. Tatum is also very good at drawing fouls, so the Mavs have their work cut out for them.
Who Wins?
This is going to be fun, no doubt about it. I have the Celtics taking this in six games. I don’t agree with the Mavs being favored in this series. But I also think Dallas is too good to go down in four or five games like the other Celtics opponents did. My theory is Boston takes the early 2-0 lead, split the next two in Dallas, then get back on track to close out the Mavs.