After dominating the competition in the Eastern Conference during the NBA playoffs in order to advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years, the Boston Celtics await their opponent, with the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves still battling it out in the Western Conference.
With the Timberwolves winning Game 4 in Dallas on Tuesday, the series has been extended to another game in Minnesota, even though it seems inevitable that Luka Doncic and company are destined to advance to the Finals to take on Boston.
With the Celtics’ opponent still up in the air, ESPN’s JJ Redick was recently asked which of the two teams left in the West would be the tougher challenge for the top-seed Celtics in the Finals.
As expected, Redick went with the Mavericks, as he believes the difference would be Doncic and the kind of impact he can make in a seven-game series, which he’s proven in the Western Conference Finals thus far, via Celtics on NBC Sports Boston.
Which team presents a more difficult matchup for the Celtics in the NBA Finals?@jj_redick weighs in on @FelgerAndMazz pic.twitter.com/c063ZE9UUw
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 29, 2024
With Doncic playing out of his mind as of late, Boston will almost certainly struggle to contain him in the Finals, even though the Celtics are one of the best defensive teams in the league with arguably the best defensive backcourt in the game with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White leading the way.
It’ll be interesting to see if Doncic proves to be the difference between the Celtics raising an 18th championship banner or Boston going home empty-handed once again in the Tatum-Brown era.
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