The Dallas Mavericks will take on the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals! Dallas will be looking to replicate what they did when they last reached the finals in 2011 when they were the underdog against an Eastern conference powerhouse. Boston hopes to avenge their finals from 2 years ago when they went down 4-2 vs Golden State and validate their dominance this season. So what would a finals win mean for each team and their players?
Mavericks:
Let's begin with Kyrie. It has been an interesting 7 years since he last appeared on the big stage. Since the 2017 NBA finals, Kyrie has not been part of a deep playoff run until this year. The farthest he got in that span was in 2019 when he was a part of the Celtics and they got beaten 4-1 in the second round by the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. The year prior, he was injured for the entire postseason in 2018 when the Celtics went to game 7 of the ECF vs the Cavs. After the 2019 postseason, critics said the Celtics were better off with Kyrie and used the 2018 playoffs as evidence. So after the 2019 postseason, Kyrie became a Brooklyn Net. His first year in Brooklyn was very similar to his first year in Boston. It ended with him missing the postseason. Now we go to the 2020-2021 season where the Nets finished with the second-best record in the east. They got an injury-riddled Boston team in round 1 and the Nets beat them in 5. In round 2, they got the Bucks but Kyrie severely injured his ankle in game 4 and then would miss the rest of the series where the Nets would end up losing in 7 games. Many speculate that the Nets would have beaten Milwaukee had Kyrie not gotten hurt but we'll never know. Then came the 2021 season which would be his final full year in Brooklyn. The Nets finished the year 7th in the east because of injuries as Kyrie only played 29 games that year. They got Boston round 1 again and this time got swept. The year after Kyrie was part of a trade package that sent him to Dallas midseason. However, after that trade, Dallas went from 4th in the west to out of the playoffs and the haters were in full form saying that Kyrie is a team killer and he cannot be part of a winning team. Pundits such as Stephen A Smith were calling for him to retire around 3 years ago when Kyrie was a Brooklyn Net because he believed basketball was not the top priority for Kyrie. The combination of injuries and some off-court antics has prevented Kyrie from reaching his full potential over the last 7 years. Fair or not, he received a lot of criticism for that. However, he has completely flipped the script this year as he has been available for his team and has hooped without causing distractions and now is back in the Finals because of that. To me, a Finals win would validate that Kyrie can contribute to winning basketball without Lebron James. It would be very poetic for him to beat the team he used to play for in front of that hostile crowd because we all know Boston fans are going to come out with hearts full of hatred for him.
Luka's story is more about accelerating his path to greatness. Every basketball fan understands that Luka is going to end up as probably one of the 15 or 20 greatest players of all time barring some catastrophe. Luka's greatness though, up till this point is based purely on numbers and eye tests. His greatness has not translated to accolades as of yet as he doesn't have any MVPs yet. I believe that Luka will have a head start for the MVP race next year because many thought he was snubbed this year and his winning the Finals and Finals MVP will just validate those people's beliefs. Similar to how many people believed Jokic should have won over Embiid last year and those beliefs became stronger after he won Finals MVP and as a result, it felt like he had a head start for MVP and ended up winning it this year. Luka, with a win, would be doing it earlier than almost any other legendary player. MJ won his first at age 28, Lebron won at 27, Shaq won at 28, and Steph won at 26, Luka is 25 years old so this would be unprecedented. A win here for Luka would for sure perchlorate his rise in the all-time NBA rankings. It feels like it is Luka's time and he needs to seize the moment because NBA Finals appearances are never promised.
Celtics:
The Celtics' side of the story is very simple. They have to win. There's no other way to put it. They have been knocking on the door for so long now. They have been in the ECF 6 times since the 2016-2017 season and they have no rings to show for it. The show 'First Things First' on FS1 hosted by Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes pointed out how close Boston has been every year but their failure to break through and win is unprecedented. Wright pointed out that teams that usually make the conference finals this many times in a certain period have at least 1 championship to show for it. If Boston doesn't win, they will continually be looked at as the team finishing second place for the last decade. However, if they win, it could be looked at as the beginning of something and maybe they have a chance to build a dynasty because this team, to me, does not feel like a one-off. They certainly will have a better chance to return to the finals next year than the Mavs just based on the fact that the path through the east is a lot easier than the west. However, that can also be used against them because people are calling the Celtics' path to the finals the easiest path. I do not hold their lack of competition against them because you can only play who is in front of you and they have done a good job not playing with their food and just blowing through their competition finishing the first 3 rounds with a 12-2 to record. But it is a fact that their competition was light because none of their opponents won more than 50 games and in every series, their star player was injured and out for the series from Jimmy Butler to Donovan Mitchell to Tyrese Haliburton. Meanwhile, the Mavs have played teams that have all won over 50 games. If Boston doesn't win, people will say they only made the finals because of their easy path whether that is fair or not. For Tatum individually, it's the same. He needs to win these finals to get the respect he deserves.
Prediction:
I think the Mavs are deeper than the Celtics and have a good enough defense to prevent Boston from going nuclear offensively I believe the games will be close down the stretch and I trust Luka and Kyrie more than Tatum and Brown in crunch time.
Mavs in 7 - Luka Finals MVP
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