The Dallas Mavericks advanced to the NBA Finals after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-103 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Awaiting them will be the Boston Celtics, who have the best record in the league this season with a 64-18 record and have beaten the Mavericks in both games this season.
This is Dallas’ third Finals appearance, but they have only faced the Miami Heat before. Dallas won in 2011 and lost in 2006. Meanwhile, Boston is making its 23rd Finals appearance and has won 17 titles, most recently in 2008. This is their only championship since Larry Bird retired. Dallas also made the Finals two years ago, losing in six games to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
Read more: Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving lead Dallas Mavericks to NBA Finals after beating Timberwolves
Boston advanced to the Finals by beating the Miami Heat (without Jimmy Butler) in five games in the first round, the Cleveland Cavaliers (without Donovan Mitchell for the final two games and Jarrett Allen for the entire series) in the second round, and the Indiana Pacers (without Tyrese Haliburton for the final two games) in the conference finals. Dallas beat the Clippers in six games in the first round (Kawhi Leonard only played two games and was clearly not healthy), the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games in the second round, and the Timberwolves in the conference finals. The Mavericks had beaten three of the top five teams on NBA record to get to this point, but the Celtics’ toughest opponent was 48 wins.
There are various storylines that tie these two teams together: Kyrie Irving returning to Boston after an ugly split with the franchise (which included stomping on the logo at center court, burning sage in the arena, and giving fans the finger behind his head before an inbounds pass during his time in Brooklyn); Kristaps Porzingis facing his former team after admitting he didn’t give it his all with the franchise and didn’t get along all that well with Luka Doncic; Dwight Powell (if he plays) facing his first team; and both teams getting to this level was due to trades with the Brooklyn Nets (the Mavericks acquired Irving from Brooklyn in a trade last season, while the Celtics traded aging Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets over a decade ago to acquire Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with those assets).
This will be Luka Doncic’s first NBA Finals appearance, while Kyrie Irving’s fourth, all three of which came with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 2024 NBA Finals kick off at 7:30 pm CST on ABC in Boston on Thursday, June 6, so both teams will have plenty of time off and it will be a critical period for Luka Doncic, Derek Lively II, Maxi Kleber and Kristaps Porzingis to get healthy.
Read more: Luka Doncic passes Dirk Nowitzki’s record for Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 against Timberwolves
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