The NBA Finals are officially set, in this year's showing of the hardwood classic, we will see the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks battle for the Larry O'Brien Trophy beginning on Thursday, June 6th when the series begins at TD Garden in Boston.
Both franchises are led by young superstars looking to capture the first championships of their careers, as well as veterans looking to get back to or finally reach the top of the NBA mountain.
In what will be one of the more anticipated Finals in previous years, here are a few storylines that will define the lead-up and be discussed throughout this season's Finale.
The Birth of Luka Legend?
Luka Doncic is a generational talent, that we know at the very least. Doncic has had one of the great starts to an NBA career we have seen thus far, as well as an argument, could be made that he has already had one of the great starts to a basketball career in general, as before he entered the NBA, he was dominating the euro leagues capturing championships, and MVP awards before he even stepped foot in North America as a teenager in 2018.
Now at age 25, going through his sixth NBA season, Luka has taken his Mavericks to their first NBA Finals since 2011, which will also be his first time taking part in the championship series.
This season has featured many conversations about "who will the next face of the NBA be?" If Luka can win four more games this season and capture the first title of his career, he will certainly have a claim to the throne while also having won a championship earlier in his career than icons such as; LeBron, Michael, Steph, and Giannis. Doncic capturing a title at this stage of his career would put him on pace to end his career as one of the all-time greats in his own right if he can continue to stack accolades over the next decade or beyond.
Can The J's Finally Bring Boston Banner 18?
Jaylen Brown & Jayson Tatum have grown up together in Boston. We have seen them go on deep playoff runs over their careers together, regularly bringing the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals. For almost any franchise in sports, these post-season runs would be considered more than a success. But the fact is, this is the Boston Celtics, one of, if not the most storied franchise in the NBA, and the Tatum-Brown era before this season, has only gotten the C's to the Finals once, which was in 2022, where Boston lost a 2-1 series to the Golden State Warriors where they lost that series 4-2.
In 2024, the Celtics are back in the NBA Finals for the second time in three years, where throughout the 2023-24 season, they have been the best team in basketball from wire-to-wire, finishing the regular season with a league-best record of 64-18. Now, because of the breaks they were able to catch in terms of injury luck this post-season, no doubt have their best shot at finally winning it all and capturing Banner 18 for the franchise.
A question in Boston has long been if Tatum & Brown can win a championship as a duo and if the Celtics cannot get the job done this year when it seems everything thing has gone in the luck of the Irish this season, the question seems fair to ask, will this core ever be able to win a title together?
The Revival of Kyrie Irving:
The year is 2017, the Boston Celtics have traded for disgruntled Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving who was brought in to bring the NBA Finals back to Bean Town. Seven years and a few stops later, Irving will be playing NBA Finals games in Boston, just not wearing a Celtics jersey.
Irving has been the most controversial player off the court since 2020, whether it be due to his vaccine status, political views, or contract talks to name a few elements of his NBA journey.
This time last year, it seemed Irving's career and market were going sideways as he was entering free agency, where it seemed as if most of the league was not interested in adding the championship guard to their rosters. Mark Cuban, and the Mavericks after trading for Kyrie in February of 2023, decided to take a leap of faith by giving him a 3-year 126-million dollar deal last July.
Since signing his contract, Irving has rewarded the Mavericks by not being a distraction off the court while being elite between the lines. Much like he was in Cleveland with LeBron James, Irving is back in the role he has thrived in past years, being the perfect Robin to Luka Doncic's Batman.
No doubt this season, Irving has reestablished himself as one of the premier point guards in the game today, and if he can capture the second championship of his career by knocking off his former team, the Boston Celtics, it would cap off one of the more remarkable career revivals we have seen in recent NBA history.
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