Hello NBA Basketball Fans,
The Golden State Warriors have won the new redesigned Oscar Robertson Trophy, earning the honour to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics have done the same winning the Bob Cousy Trophy given to the winner of the Eastern Conference. These are new trophies created this season for the NBA 75th Anniversary. Stephan Curry is the Western Conference MVP and won the Magic Johnson Award while Jason Tatum is the Eastern Conference MVP earning himself the Larry Bird Trophy.
While both teams have earned the right to compete for the NBA Championship and a chance at the coveted Larry O’Brien Trophy. Boston and Golden State have had very different paths and faced a different level of competition getting there.
The Boston Celtics went on a revenge tour facing the three teams that have eliminated them in the playoffs over the last 3 years. In the first round Boston faced future Hall-Of-Famers Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets who were early season favourites to win the title. The Nets got into the playoffs the hard way via the NBA Play-in mini tournament. After trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers at the deadline for Ben Simmons, he ultimately was not available in the playoffs. Kyrie Irving was back full-time after his vaccination status was no longer a problem. It did not matter as the Boston Celtics made short work of KD and Kyrie, sweeping them (4-0). Next in the second round they faced the defending NBA Champions Milwaukee Buck led by IMO the current best player in the world Giannis Antetokounmpo. This series was much more competitive and went the full seven games. Giannis did not have his wing man Khris Middleton and Boston defeated the Bucks handily in game 7. In the ECF Boston and Miami played in what was one of the most physical series these playoffs. Both teams were dealing with injuries. However, Boston completed the revenge tour massacre with their second game 7 victory last night in what ended up coming down to a missed three pointer by Jimmy Buckets late in the game, which solidified the victory for the Celtics and stamped their ticket to the Finals.
The Golden State Warriors had a much easier path to the finals. In the first round they faced MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. However, Denver was missing two key players to injury. Canadian Jamal Murray and youngster Michael Porter Jr were both injured and Golden State made short work of the Nuggets in 5 games (4-1). In the second round they had a much tougher match up versus the higher ranked Memphis Grizzles. Ja Morant has taken a leap this year and is a budding Superstar in the making. Ja went off in the first three games of the series averaging (38 points, 7 rebounds & 8 assists) before injuring his knee and missing the rest of the series and GSW won (4-2). With a healthy Morant I am not sure if GSW win the series. It would have at least gone 7 games and who knows. The Warriors drew the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic in the Western Conference Finals. Luka is a great player and had an amazing series, however he does not have the supporting cast and the Mavericks were not really any threat at all to the Golden State Warriors. They almost swept Dallas but ultimately finished them off in 5 games (4-1).
I am happy with the two teams that have qualified for the finals. It will be a real battle of Eastern Conference toughness and physicality that Boston Celtics will bring versus the run and gun, Western Conference – Golden State Warriors. Rising stars Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be joined by defensive player of the year Marcus Smart trying to stop splash brothers Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Both squads have deep teams with a plethora of players who can make a difference in each game, swinging the pendulum in their teams’ favour!
Now its time to see which style of play will prevail…
Prediction > This series will be one of the most exciting and competitive finals in a long time. I have a feeling that each game will be exciting. There will not be any major blowout games. However, after all the dust settles the team with the championship pedigree, experience and DNA Golden State Warriors with a coach Steve Kerr who has been there before will win a hard fought series in game 7 making this one of the best NBA Finals of All-Time!
GSW in 7 games.
Can’t wait for Game 1 Thursday June.2nd.
Who do you think will be walking away with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2022?
Let us know in the comments below and see who makes the right predictions.
