Now that their conference champions have been identified, the National Basketball Association is weeks away from crowning its next champion. For the sixth consecutive season, the NBA will celebrate a new champion, as neither the Boston Celtics nor the Dallas Mavericks have competed for and won an NBA championship in over a decade.
Though the Celtics have history on their side, this relatively young Celtics squad was competing for another NBA Championship banner to add to their rafters only two seasons ago. Whereas the Mavericks won their only championship over a decade ago, their front-office transactions over the past 15 months have fueled their impressive run to the NBA Finals, making this potentially one of the most unique finals match-ups of the league’s prestigious history.
Leading the Celtis is the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. With these two leading the way, this version of the Celtics has made the Eastern Conference finals in four of the past five years, yet only made the NBA Finals in 2022, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. This duo has proven they can get close, it’s now time for these guys to close the deal.
Being named to four-time All-NBA teams and five-time All-Star games, Jayson Tatum has the most pressure of anyone playing in these NBA finals. He is teamed with Jaylen Brown, the three-time All-Star and 2022-2023 All-NBA team member, who is often unappreciated and is coming off being crowned as Eastern Conference Championship MVP. This duo is complemented by an accomplished NBA Champion in defensive stalwart Jrue Holiday.
Holiday joins the Celtics, having already won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. This was the last year the Celtics did not play for the Eastern Conference Finals championship. In his 15-year career, Holiday is widely praised for his basketball IQ and defensive prowess, as he was named to the NBA All-Defensive team six times while being named a two-time NBA All-Star.
The Dallas Mavericks are led by the generationally talented Luka Dončić of Slovenia and complimented by equally gifted, mature, and NBA Champion Kyrie Irving. At the trade deadline this season, the Mavericks also acquired P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford who has played a pivotal role in this season’s Mavericks playoffs run.
In his young career, Dončić has been named to five All-Star teams and five All-NBA teams and won the 2023-2024 NBA scoring championship. Even more impressively, Dončić has become the fastest player to reach 2,000 points in the NBA and one of the two players to be named to an All-NBA team in their first two years in the league, the other being Hall of Famer San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan.
Should the Mavericks win the 2024 NBA Finals, Dončić’s 33.9 points per game average this season would make him the first player since Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan to average at least 30 points per game and win an NBA Championship, which would put him in rare company for such a young player in the league.
Dončić hasn’t had a better running mate than Kyrie Irving. Not only is Irving an NBA Champion, he’s been named to eight NBA All-Star teams and three All-NBA teams. He is in the conversation for having the best handles in the history of the NBA and is arguably one of the best below-the-rim scorers the league has seen.
Irving is also having a renaissance of sorts this season. No one has ever questioned his game, as it was his ideologies and off-the-court activities that anyone had concerns with. Since arriving in Dallas, Irving has been on his best behavior and is now seen as a leader for this young Mavericks team.
“We had a lot of bonding time, off the court. We don’t have time for distractions, we eliminated all those,” Irving said last month. “When teams are coming at us, we look back at the times where we did not live up to our standards, and use that as motivation and energy to put your best foot forward.”
The acquisitions of 6’7” swingman P.J. Washington from Charlotte Hornets and 6’10” big man Daniel Gafford from Washington Wizards added much-needed defense and rebounding ability to the Mavericks lineup. These additions to the team all but wrapped up the Executive of the Year Award for Mavericks Nico Harrison.
Washington’s ability to adequately defend the opposing team’s best perimeter players adds to the team’s defensive prowess, and his career 35.3% shooting from three-point range opens up the floor for Dončić and Irving. Gafford’s 78.0% shooting percentage, 6.9 rebounds per game, and 1.9 blocks per game since joining the Mavericks adds much-needed toughness, defense, and rebounding to the squad, enabling the other players to perform at optimum levels.
Each of these teams has players who have played for the other teams. Irving had an acrimonious stint with the Celtics in the 2018-2019 season that ended weeks after he announced he wanted to “end his career as a Celtic.” Latvia’s 7’2” Kristaps Porziņģis, once took the floor with Dončić in the 2019 and 2020 NBA seasons, yet health and performance were a constant concern for the Mavericks and their fans before this shipped him to the Wizards.
Each of the coaches on these teams has been here before. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd has played in three NBA Finals and won an NBA Championship with this Mavericks organization in 2011. As a head, Coach Kidd of the Mavericks has a 56.9% winning percentage.
The Celtics named Joe Mazzulla as head coach of this team, once the incumbent coach was released due to improprieties. Mazzulla was an Assistant Coach on the team that lost the NBA Finals in 2022. In his two seasons as the head coach of the Celtics, Mazzulla has amassed a 73.8 winning percentage, while increasing their win from 57 in year one to 64 wins in year two. A championship would prove that he is the right guy for the job.
Irving’s rebirth, Tatum’s status as one of the best players in the league, Luka’s ascension to prominence, and Brown’s quest for appreciation and acknowledgment are on the table in this series. The coaches are also competing for their respect in league circles, making this one of the most intriguing NBA Finals we’ve seen.
We will see one of the best players in the league competing versus one of the best teams. I am picking the Mavericks to win this series in game six back in Dallas. Primarily, because they have the two most clutch players and the best end-of-the-game closers in this season’s playoffs.
