The 2024 Finals Turn Reminiscent of 2017
The Best Player + Kyrie Irving versus The Best Team is a script we've witnessed before, and we know how the story ends.
The Boston Celtics’ run to the Finals has been objectively easy. In their first three series - a demolition job of the NBA’s Eastern Conference - they faced their opponent’s best player only five times. They lost only twice; on both occasions to abnormally great three-point shooting from the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Much of their playoff run has felt like random regular season games in November; maybe you’d tune in if there was nothing else to watch.
They haven’t broken a sweat.
On the other side of the bracket, the fellow number one-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder blew my New Orleans Pelicans out of the water so badly that we got banned from Cancun.
Parallel with their Eastern conference counterpart, however, the Thunder’s opponent was also missing their best player. Now, let’s keep this moving forward before I find a way to spin this into a piece about my favourite team.
Okay, another parallel:
When the Thunder reached Round 2, a banged-up Luka Doncic was waiting for them.
When the Celtics reached the Finals, a banged-up Luka Doncic was waiting for them.
Okay, now the parallels stop.
While it took them six, the Mavericks could’ve easily sent the Thunder packing in five (which, if we just don’t count Game 1 because Jason Kidd is allergic to winning them, we could say four) games. It was more of a series than anything Boston has been involved in this postseason, but was nonetheless a convincing, deserving victory from Dallas.
Despite Luka being far from 100% healthy, the West’s one seed struggled mightily to keep the series close and laid down in warranted defeat.
The East’s one seed, on the other hand, has shown no signs of struggle against the same Dallas team.
And this is where we perhaps have to start giving Boston their due credit despite the accurate criticism surrounding their path to the Finals.
Just as the Thunder were, the Celtics are fully healthy. Fine, Kristaps Porzingis isn’t 100%. But did you see his Game 1 performance? I’m allowed to label them fully healthy.
And yet, they are steamrolling the same team that that fellow one seed was no match for. Despite some BAD shooting from their best player in Jayson Tatum, despite below-average three-point shooting so far as a team whose offense relies heavily on that shot, the series now moves to Dallas with the Celtics breathing down the neck of an eighteenth NBA Championship. And it’s looking like it’s going to happen without much stress along the journey.
Dallas took out three of the top four seeds in the Western Conference on their way to the Finals.
They deserve to be here. They have one of the - arguably THE - world’s best player on their team. That guy has an elite running mate in Kyrie Irving. They have size, rebounding, and shooting in their complimentary pieces. Now read this paragraph again as if it was about the 2016/17 Cleveland Cavaliers and you’ll realize it still makes sense.
And it’s those Finals - those first Kevin Durant Warriors Finals - that I couldn’t help but think of as I watched the Mavericks die a slow yet predictable death in Game 2. Sure, the Mavs aren’t perfect. Those Cavs certainly weren’t. But they’re still really good, just like those Cavs before them. They’re still in the Finals for a reason, still a force to be reckoned with that the best of the West failed to beat - just as the 2017 Cavaliers were too good for anyone out East. But it simply hasn’t mattered. And it simply hasn’t mattered because of the juggernaut staring them in the face. In the same way, it didn’t matter that the 2017 Cavaliers were one of the better teams LeBron James has had in his career. The Warriors (and now the Celtics) were insurmountable.
Former Warriors GM Bob Myers mentioned on ESPN’s Game 2 pregame broadcast that his role as general manager was to create the largest possible margin for error: how bad can the Warriors play and still win? How can we set that bar as low as possible?
It’s clear as day in this series that the Dallas Mavericks’ margin for error is essentially zero; they need four of their best performances all season from this point forward to make an improbable comeback for just the sixth time in league history (P.S. Shoutout to Luka Doncic. Although they’re losing, he’s playing exceptionally well considering how injured he is).
Meanwhile, Boston has played two decent games. They find themselves up 2-0. They’re still testing the waters for just how much error they can squeeze out of a game and still win it. GM Brad Stevens has done a terrific job constructing a roster that is all but certainly going to win the NBA Championship.
Barring a fanciful Mavericks comeback, the question now beckons: who can stop the Boston Celtics?
Another extraordinary postseason from the game’s greatest player carried the Cavs back to the Finals in 2018 before a Warriors sweep saw James leave for Hollywood. Thankfully, Durant’s exit for Brooklyn the following year saved the NBA world from the sheer boredom of, say, five straight Golden State titles. Three in four years was plenty.
While it feels less likely that we’ll see Dallas back in the Finals next season, it’s not out of the picture. But as we’ve said all season, the Western Conference is a slugfest. That won’t change anytime soon. Come on, guys, let’s continue to beat each other up for the prize of getting beat up by the guys out East.
One might conclude that all that’s changed from seven years ago is the roles have reversed: the East is now no fun and the West is now a free-for-all brawl.
So, while these Finals may bring some déjà vu of 2017, it would be better for everyone outside of Boston if next year is a different story.
Another fantastic read! Appreciate the time and effort you put into this piece.