The NBA playoffs have been epic so far and with the conference finals matchups set we are likely to see two spectacular series. Starting in the west. we have the #7 seeded Los Angeles Lakers led by Lebron James versus the #1 seeded Denver Nuggets led by Nikola Jokic. In the east, we are gonna see a rematch of last year's eastern conference finals matchup between the #8 seeded Miami Heat led by Jimmy Butler and the #2 seeded Boston Celtics led by Jayson Tatum. Both series will be must-see TV but which teams will ultimately punch their tickets to the NBA Finals?
The Lakers got here by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies and defending champion Golden State Warriors and are making their first western conference finals appearance since 2020. That year, they also played the Nuggets who they defeated on the way to win their 17th championship. The Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves followed by Phoenix Suns to make their return to western conference finals and are looking to make their first ever NBA Finals appearance.
The Nuggets played the Lakers 4 times in the regular season and tied 2-2 in the season series. However, all the games took place before the Lakers made all their trades to bolster the roster. After all their moves the Lakers went from a struggling teams that started the season with a 2-10 record to one of the best teams in the NBA. Still, the Nuggets have arguably the best player remaining in the playoffs in Nikola Jokic who has been playing excellent basketball as he's done all season long. The winner of the series will likely come down to what big man can be more dominant as Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic have both been special this postseason. With that said, I believe the Lakers will repeat what they did in 2020 and defeat the Nuggets in 6 games to make it back to the NBA finals.
Of the 4 conference finalists, Miami was arguably the biggest longest to make the conference finals when the postseason started in April. The Heat made a historic return to the conference finals by defeating the #1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round followed by a gritty New York Knicks squad. Boston defeated the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers and are looking to defend their eastern conference title and avenge their NBA finals finals loss from last year.
In the Celtics-Heat regular season series they tied 2-2 with the Celtics winning the first two matchups and the Heat winning the next two. The difference for the Heat is how different a player Jimmy Butler is in the playoffs versus the regular season. Butler has increased his points per game in the playoffs to 31.1, up 8.1 points compared to his regular season average of 22.9 points per game. Despite having an inconsistent postseason, Tatum is still one of the best players in the playoffs a showed it by dropping an NBA record 51 points in Game 7 against the Sixers. I expect a much more consistent Jayson Tatum compared to the previous two rounds which should lead to a more consistent Celtics. team. Unless Butler is able to play out of his mind like he did against the Bucks I expect the Celtics to win this series in 6 games and make their second straight trip to the NBA Finals.
If my prediction is correct, we could be set for the return of a historic rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics that would decide who becomes the NBA's leader in championships as both teams are tied with 17 apiece.
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