After a pair of games 7 on Sunday, the final games of the NBA conference have been determined. In the West, this will be No. 3 Warriors vs. No. 4 Dallas Mavericks. To the east, it’s the No. 1 Miami Heat against the No. 2 Boston Celtics.
Boston-Miami begins Tuesday. Golden State-Dallas starts on Wednesday.
Throughout the season we have said that this will be a wild post-season and it certainly is. The title hasn’t been such a grab for a long time. It honestly seems that each of these four teams can be in the finals, but of course, we all have our say on who will actually qualify.
With this in mind, below are the ones selected by our staff for both games, along with the number of games we see in each series and an explanation of our choices. This will be fun.
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Eastern Conference Finals: Heath vs. Celtics
Reiter’s Choice: The Celtics at 6. Miami is a very good basketball team. But the Celtics are great – and maybe the best game since the end of January. They have the second best defense in the NBA, his defender of the year, superstar in Jason Tatum, remarkable depth, supreme momentum and seemingly the answer to every question posed to them this season. Under .500 at the end of January? No problem. A series of the first round against the supposedly fearsome Brooklyn Nets? Sweep them away. Deficit in Serie 3-2 against defending Milwaukee Bucks? As Name Udoka called it: Just so much sweeter when the inevitable return unfolded in a dominant way. And now, a very talented Miami Heat team with its own excellent defense, with Jimmy Butler, with the experience of Eric Spoelstra at the helm? No problem, again. This Celtics team, like all the other challenges it faces, is just too good.
Queen’s Choice: The Celtics at 6. I can’t get the image of Miami out of my head, scoring 79 points in Game 3 of their series against the 76ers. This is a team that has struggled to score long periods against the pathetic defense of Philadelphia … and should we trust them to score against Boston? The Celtics have been historically dominant in defense since January. They just knocked down the two best players in the world. If Kyle Lowry was healthy, this series would be much more interesting. As it is now, I expect Miami to use their huge break advantage to take Game 1 at home, but otherwise this series will lean towards a team from Boston, which seems ready to avenge Heath’s defeat in the Eastern finals. conference in 2020
Ward-Henninger’s Choice: The Celtics at 6. If we thought the Boston-Milwaukee series was a bloodbath, what would it look like? With two elite defenses, conventional logic will dictate that a team with more offensive firepower will prevail, and that’s the Celtics – thanks to Jason Tatum, Jaylan Brown and the role players, who have proven they can get stronger when it matters. Given this, it is impossible to ignore what Jimmy Butler did this postseason, and Tyler Hero can be missed. At the end of the day, I just think Heath will have trouble scoring all the series, so Boston is in the NBA Finals.
Maloney’s Choice: The Celtics in 6. The Heat are an extremely tough and great team to defend on their own, but we just saw the Celtics shut down a Bucks team that lacked strikers. Miami is facing a similar problem, especially with Kyle Lowry, who is still battling a hamstring injury and no one is as good as Janice Adetokunmpo. It will be a serious marriage, but in the end the Celtics will have too much talent on both sides of the ball.
Wimbish selection: Celtics in 7. Although the West may see some high-scoring results, I expect this series to be the opposite, as both teams use a suffocating defense that could exhaust their opponent. But I have more confidence in Boston’s ability to score more than Heath, whose attack has stalled for a long time against the Sixers in the final series. Kyle Lowry’s unknown injury variable also raises questions about Heath, who doesn’t have many strikemakers to fight Boston.
Botkin’s Choice: The Celtics at 6. These two teams reflect each other in many ways. Excellent protection when switching. Two-way large, which can be kept independently on the perimeter. Superstars in Jason Tatum and Jimmy Butler. depth. Discipline. Ethos of riding and kicking. Again, Miami is much better than it is attributed to them, at least in the mass conversation, but the Celtics will eventually be too much on both sides.
Herbert’s Choice: The Celtics at 6. Can Heath score against this incredible defense? As great and adaptable as they have been this season, I’m worried about these individual matches and I suspect they just don’t have enough firepower. They will try to confuse things, but, especially since Miami doesn’t have a healthy Kyle Lowry, I have to stick to Boston, the team I chose to win everything by coming to the playoffs.
The choice of Kaskey-Blomain: Celtics in 6. This series promises to be a difficult, defensive battle, as both teams are betting on playing a hard, blocked defense. That said, however, the Celtics have more firepower in attack and the best player in the entire series in Jason Tatum. After delaying the duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the first round and eliminating the reigning champions and perhaps the best player in the world right now in Janis Adetokunmpo in the second round, the Celtics should have no problem delaying Jimmy Butler, Bam Ame and Co.
Western Conference Finals: Warriors vs. Mavericks
Reiter’s Choice: Warriors in 5. Luka Doncic’s heroism in leading the Dallas Mavericks past the Phoenix Suns cannot be overstated. But the Golden State Warriors will be a very different opponent – one, unlike Phoenix, who does not twist in the face of a healthy D and a stunning superstar. The Warriors’ past experience – winning titles and losing them – will help them get rid of Luke and Co. The Warriors have the best defense in the NBA. They have the best scorer in NBA history. They have greater depth than in the Durant years, entitled but not limited to the emergence of Jordan Poole. They have Clay and Dray again. And they won’t waste another chance at another title the way Phoenix just did.
Quinn’s choice: Warriors at 7. I think we’re overestimating Mavericks very slightly right now based on a few factors that are unlikely to hold up. Phoenix’s violation is so dependent on two creators to generate an insult that one seemingly injured completely neutralizes them. The more egalitarian system of the Golden State will not be so vulnerable. The Warriors can punish Dallas athletically in ways the Suns just couldn’t. A few Mavericks shoot well over their heads in the playoffs and if Maxi Kleber continues to make 48 percent of his 3? More power for him, start planning the parade. I just think that the comfortable switching of Golden State in defense will force Dallas to look for alternatives in attack, as incredible as Luka Doncic is, I think it is worth noting that this same core beat LeBron James in the finals three times. . This type of matches is not alien to them. Doncic will reach the finals one day, but this is still the time of Golden State.
Ward-Henninger’s choice: Warriors in the 7th they can at least try to make his life difficult. The Warriors also have staff to match the Mavs when they come out with five outs, which is one of their biggest weapons. It will be close, but I trust Draymond, Steph and Clay more than Luke’s cohorts. Give me the Golden State.
Maloney’s Choice: Warriors at 7. This should be a captivating match, as both teams love to be small, live and die from a 3-pointer. It’s hard to choose against Luka Doncic and the Mavs after the way they just beat the Suns in Game 7, but I will lean slightly towards the Warriors thanks to their collective talent, championship experience and home court advantage.
Choosing Wimbish: Mavericks in 7. If you don’t believe that these two teams are almost a mirror of each other, here are some statistics to consider. Both the Warriors and the Mavericks have a 110.5 playoff defense rating, and Dallas’ 114.5 attack rating is just 0.2 better than the Golden State. These are two teams that fit incredibly well against each other, as both can go in small ball squads to force their opponents to obey, and rely heavily on 3s to fall. While the Warriors are the favorites to win this series – and win the title – based on their championship history, Golden State didn’t look like the world-winning, cowardly team we saw in 2016. They tend to play careless basketball. and Stephen Curry doesn’t hit those crazy 3 we’re used to seeing from him. Meanwhile, the Mavericks are entering this series with their best basketball and it is difficult to bet against Luka Doncic at the moment, who seems to be the best …
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