Conference Finals Set

Now that we have game 7s from Sunday completed, the 4 teams are set in stone for the Conference Finals. In the East we have 2 seed Boston Celtics against 1 seed Miami Heat. In the West we have 4 seed Dallas Mavericks against 3 seed Golden State Warriors. I will be making my predictions by the end of the article but first let’s breakdown these matchups. Since we have the Eastern Conference Finals set to start Tuesday May 17th, we will start there. The Miami Heat were able to handle the Philadelphia 76ers rather easily in game 7 at home. A much better team at home than on the road as Miami was 0-3 on the road in that series. This leaves me to have doubts as far as the eye test goes with this Miami Heat team. The only sure-fire thing I see in this series, is Jimmy Butler showing up night in and night out. I also have pause with the road Miami has had so far getting to this point. First round series against a not-so-great Atlanta Hawks team. Then a series with the 76ers, which had a past his prime James Harden and a Joel Embiid who was not 100%. Embiid who battled injuries in the early portion of his career, battled and willed his way to play in that series. Torn ligament in his thumb, paired with a right orbital fracture, Embiid couldn’t be Superman as he usually is. We always see the role players step-up in home games which is why home court usually has its advantage. Heat brought in veteran Kyle Lowry who was going to be a key piece to help the Heat get back into the finals. Lowry however, has not been 100% as well. Heat have to lean on Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro a little more to be the number 2 and 3 options behind Jimmy Butler. Capable players to step-up, yes, but can they do this consistently throughout the entire series? My answer to that question is, I don’t think so. The Boston Celtics defense was the best in the NBA this season. Stepping it up even more in the playoffs against the Nets and Bucks. Miles and miles better than the Hawks and much better than the 76ers. Surely to create problems for all the Miami Heat players. This also includes making things difficult for Jimmy Butler. Most teams have 1-3 guys who can play solid to elite defense. If there is anything we took away from the Boston and Milwaukee series, is that the Celtics have 5-6 elite guys who can defend. Proving it vs Milwaukee and Brooklyn who are both rated higher as offensive teams over Miami. Ime Udoka has had nearly flawless game plans to stop teams’ top threats. Celtics held Kevin Durant under 40% shooting from the field. His regular season average was 49.6%. Brooklyn was neutralized and swept in the first round. Then to the Milwaukee series, the Celtics dared other players other than Giannis to step up and beat them. If you look at the numbers for Giannis, you would say he had a phenomenal series and he did. Giannis was not efficient as he normally is and this was the key to the Celtics taking down the defending champs. Walking into the playoffs with 55.5% FG, that dropped in the Celtics series to 45.5% FG. Finally, this all leads me to my series prediction. Jimmy has been exceptional, but he is no KD or Giannis. I see Miami winning game one as the Cs look to recover from a brutally physical 7 game series. After that I see 4 straight wins and a trip to the NBA finals for the Celtics. If you can do the math that is a 4-1 series win.

Moving on to the Western Conference Finals matchup that not many had predicted. Dallas Mavericks find themselves in a great matchup against the Golden State Warriors. Luka Doncic in his first appearance in the conference finals, has already proven why he is the best player under 25 defeating the defending Western Conference champs, Phoenix Suns. What Luka Doncic did in that entire series was nothing less than impressive. The game 7 performance was other worldly. Doncic put up 27 points in the first half. Those 27 points would match the entire Phoenix Suns team’s total points for the half. Talk about a guy taking over. Luka is behind Michael Jordan for most points per game in the playoffs with a minimum of 23 starts. If Luka didn’t have to sit on the bench the entire 4th quarter, due to the blowout, he might have the top spot. The Suns had no answer for Luka from the start. I believe this will change in the conference finals. Golden State is one of the smartest teams defensively and can take away certain options. With both teams preferring the small ball approach, it’ll be a fun back and forth. The advantage for Golden State is that they have 3 guys with championship pedigree and experience. The trio of Draymond Green, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson is still feared to this day. As they get older, we see they are not entirely the same compared to their championship winning seasons. Drafting well while these 3 dealt with injuries, Steve Kerr has been able to develop young guys to set this dynasty up for another 6 to 8 years. Jordan Poole who was drafted 28th overall in 2019 has jumped onto the scene with the splash brothers. Getting Wiggins in a trade with Minnesota is another great move. There is one more young star to be that I will be keeping a