With the second round and even one of the conference finals coming to a close, the NBA playoffs are heating up.
In the Eastern Conference, the Indiana Pacers defeated the New York Knicks 4-3. Unfortunately for the Knicks, they had to deal with many injuries going into and throughout their playoff run. However, to make matters worse, their star point guard Jalen Brunson suffered a hand/wrist injury during the crucial game 7 matchup. Without Brunson, the Knicks were unable to even keep it close, suffering an embarrassing 130-109 defeat to the Pacers. This victory put the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics who had defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 in the second round with ease. Looking into the matchup, the Celtics were easily the favorites. They had more starpower, a better regular season record, and had more momentum going into it. Game 1 went down to the wire. Jaylen Brown knocked down a clutch 3 point shot to bring the game to overtime where the Celtics would end up winning. Although Game 2 was a blowout win for Boston, the rest of the games in the series were very close. Despite the games being very close until the end, the Celtics were able to come out victorious in all of them winning 4-0. Though the Pacers had a very great postseason run, being swept in the ECF was not how they envisioned their season to end. Nevertheless, they have an extremely bright future ahead of them. The Boston Celtics are now in the finals, waiting for the Dallas Mavericks versus the Minnesota Timberwolves series to wrap up to see who they have to play in the championship.
Andrew Tropp ‘26 says “Although I do believe the Celtics have had an easy path to the finals, there is no doubt that they are the best team in playoffs as they have proved it by dismantling their opponents time and time again”
As for the Western Conference, the 6th seed Mavericks are facing the 3rd seeded Timberwolves in the WCF. The series that will bring the winning team to the finals. To get here, the Timberwolves fought a hard series against the Denver Nuggets, winning 4-3. The Mavericks faced the 1st seed Oklahoma City Thunder. Even though the Thunder were easily favorites, the Mavericks outplayed them. They beat them 4-2 sending the young Thunder squad home. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are the two stars of the Mavericks, making up the best backcourt in the entire NBA. Irving won a championship with Lebron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2016 and he is now searching for his second ring. Doncic, on the other hand, is aiming to win his first. As for the Timberwolves, they are led by rising superstar Anthony Edwards. Edwards was the first overall pick in the 2020 draft, and has increased his skill every year. Behind him are two big men. Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Gobert won the award of Defensive Player of the Year this season and Towns is one of the best big-man shooters in the league. Despite the teams looking to be evenly matched on paper, the series has gotten out of hand. The Mavericks jumped out to a wild 3-0 lead. And in Game 2, which was close until the end, Luka Doncic hit a step-back 3 point shot over Rudy Gobert to solidify a key victory over the Timberwolves. However, in Game 4 the Timberwolves were able to escape a sweep as they finally won a game. Unless they come back from the 3-0 deficit, which no NBA team has done in the entire history of the playoffs, the Mavericks will be in the finals against the Celtics. If this is the finals, it may just be an absolute cinema. Both teams are great and Kyrie Irving will be looking for revenge against his former team. Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown will all be searching for their first ring making the stakes very high.
Luis Mattos ‘26 says “A Mavericks versus Celtics finals would be an absolute movie. The storyline between Kyrie Irving and the Celtics might honestly make this the best finals ever, that is of course if the Mavericks finish off the Timberwolves”
All in all, the 2023-2024 post season has been and should continue to be fun and exciting.
