2024 NBA playoffs: What will the conference finals between the Celtics and the Pacers and the Timberwolves and the Mavericks be?
After two spectacular rounds of the 2024 NBA playoffs, we’ve arrived at the final four teams competing for the championship.
Are the Denver Nuggets the defending champions? The Minnesota Timberwolves won Game 7 with a stunning second-half rally, defeating Gone.
Are the Oklahoma City Thunder the top seed in the Western Conference? The Dallas Mavericks, led by superstars Luke Doncic and Kyrie Irving, emerged as a formidable championship contender following their trade deadline makeover.
The East bracket pits the league-leading Boston Celtics against the underdog Indiana Pacers, who required a Game 7 win at Madison Square Garden to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2014. Meanwhile, the Celtics have returned for the sixth time in eight seasons.
Ahead of the first game of each series — Celtics-Pacers on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) and Wolves-Mavs on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET on TNT), these are the elements that will determine which competitors progress to next month’s NBA Finals.
Minnesota defeated the Phoenix Suns in the first round, one of the preseason favorites to win the championship. In the conference semifinals, it defeated the defending champions, the Denver Nuggets, in a thrilling seven-game series.Anthony Edwards has performed exceptionally well, averaging 28.9 points on 50.4% shooting (39.8% from three), 6.2 rebounds, and 5.9 assists. This is a little increase from his regular season averages and his best since being picked first overall in 2020.
Minnesota’s series victory over Denver, however, was anything but a one-man show. The Wolves came back from a 20-point deficit in Game 7 with six players scoring in double digits and strong defensive performances from Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, and Edwards. Edwards aims to be the best player in the league on both sides of the ball.
After trailing by 20 points in the second half, the Timberwolves rallied to defeat the Nuggets in Game 7 and advance to the Western Conference finals.
The Mavericks’ success in the playoffs was largely due to their defense and role players, despite the star power of Luke Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The Mavericks, who boasted the league’s best defense in the final 20 games of the regular season, have limited opponents to 101 or fewer points in six of their eight postseason victories.
Dallas’ greatest on-ball defenders, P.J. Washington and Derrick Jones, delivered clutch shooting outings against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Doncic has struggled by his standards while suffering with a sore right knee, but he finished strong in the West semifinals, averaging a 30-point triple-double on.568/.529/.900 shooting splits over the last two games.
Can a squad lead by a 22-year-old star in Edwards be ready to reach the NBA Finals so soon? Two years ago, Doncic led the Wolves to the conference finals, but fell to the more experienced Golden State Warriors in five games. The Wolves’ West finals opponent experienced a similar rise.
The Mavs reloaded by trading for Irving, a past champion, last year and adding Washington and Gafford at the deadline this year.
When asked after the Denver series if the Timberpups needed to absorb a few more postseason beatings before winning a championship, Minnesota’s leaders said they’d had enough disappointment.
“We lost last year,” Towns remarked during the postgame press conference. Edwards, seated on Towns’ right, added: We’ve lost the last two years. Goddamn, how many times are we going to lose? How much do you want us to lose?
Edwards’ unshakable confidence is maybe his most distinguishing feature. So the Wolves guard’s rejection of a predetermined schedule for a player to win a ring comes as no surprise.
The Wolves exhibited fragility against the Nuggets, losing Games 3, 4, and 5 after leading 2-0 and occasionally losing their cool in those defeats. However, the determination they demonstrated by winning Game 6 by 45 points and never giving up in Game 7 may be sufficient evidence that this team’s moment has arrived.
Upgrading the center rotation was critical to the Mavs rebounding from last year’s lottery finish and reaching the Western Conference finals. Nico Harrison’s additions of Dereck Lively II in the draft and Gafford at the trade deadline provide the Mavs with a dynamic duo of rim protectors and lob threats.
They’ll face a significant task in this game against a Minnesota squad that features two 7-footers in four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns.
Both Dallas bigs have made significant contributions. Lively, in particular, was a force against the Thunder, having the series’ best plus-minus (plus-71) by a large margin.
The Mavericks defeat the Thunder and avoid Game 7, advancing to the Western Conference playoffs thanks to Luka Doncic’s outstanding triple-double.
It’s simple to argue he should start, coach Jason Kidd stated without prompting following Game 6. “But he’s doing his role for us, which is to come off the bench and provide us energy while finishing in the paint.
Maxi Kleber, the stretch big man, may not be able to return from his right shoulder injury during the series. He has began basic basketball drills, such as form shooting from short range and defensive slides, and will be reviewed later this week.
Kleber increases the Mavericks’ lineup versatility. He gives Kidd the option of playing big with Kleber at power forward alongside one of the centers or small with a five-out offense that could draw Gobert away from the paint, which Dallas used successfully in a 2022 series victory over Gobert’s Jazz.
