The opening rounds of this year’s NBA playoffs were thoroughly entertaining and competitive, but so far, the conference finals have been a dud.
Both the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics hold 3-0 leads over the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers, respectively, and it looks like both series are all but over, especially from a mental and emotional perspective.
In fact, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says the Timberwolves “look defeated” because they have been owned thus far by Dallas’ star-studded backcourt duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, via NBA on ESPN.
“Minnesota looks defeated. … They cannot stop Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.”@stephenasmith says nobody could have seen the Mavs taking a 3-0 lead over the Wolves 😂 pic.twitter.com/ZE9rm8oGKf
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 27, 2024
Going into the Western Conference Finals, it looked like Minnesota had the edge because they held home-court advantage and seemed to have more talent and depth from top to bottom.
They held fourth-quarter leads in each of the three games played so far, but Irving and Doncic have been too much in crunch time.
Doncic hit the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 2, and he’s averaging 32.7 points, 8.7 assists, and 7.7 rebounds a game so far in this matchup, while Irving is contributing 27.7 points per contest.
The Timberwolves seemed to be coming of age after knocking off the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the prior round, but now they look unripe and unready for prime time.
In particular, Anthony Edwards, who has garnered plenty of comparisons to Michael Jordan, has been struggling over the last several games.
The Mavs haven’t won it all or been to the NBA Finals since 2011, but now they’re just one win away from playing for a world championship, something very few expected them to do when this season started.
