Finals Game One: Boston Baked Blowout

The NBA Finals is here, folks!

I do love the NBA Finals, because similar to the NHL's Stanley Cup Final, it's the finale of an amazing journey that includes 16 teams--well, technically 20 if you count the play-in games. One thing I'm trying to get used to is the fact that the NBA Finals actually starts before the Cup Final; it had been the other way around for a long time. Nevertheless, the NBA Finals is here, and this year, it's the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks battling for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

The Celtics were pretty much expected to get to this point. They finished with the best record in the NBA--a league where, unlike the NHL, having the best record actually gets you somewhere. Boston tore their way through the Eastern Conference playoffs, and it began with some payback over the Miami Heat in Round 1, followed by dismantling the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East Semis, and sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the East Finals. Overall, the Celtics went 12-2 during the Eastern Conference half of the playoffs.

As for the Dallas Mavericks, they had a bumpy road, as they finished fifth in the Western Conference. They ousted the Los Angeles Clippers in Round 1, and it would be followed by a pair of stunning upsets. The Mavs actually eliminated the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the West Semis, and the West Finals actually saw the Mavericks only need five games to defeat a Minnesota Timberwolves team who actually ousted last year's NBA Champions, the Denver Nuggets. So this is basically a Cinderella run, but not at the level of last year's Heat.

Home-court advantage went to the Celtics, and regarding Game One, it was pretty close...for about a cup of coffee. It was all Boston the rest of the way. They were nailing threes left and right in the opening frame, which ended with the Celtics up by 17 points. Boston actually ended the first half up by 21 points, leaving this viewer wondering if Dallas would have a chance in this...series. It looked like the Mavericks would show some fight. They went on a big run and actually whittled their deficit down to eight points. I actually believed that Dallas would come back out of this somehow.

And then, just like that, Boston's lead was 20 points again. Well, that's that.

The Celtics won Game One, 107-89, to strike first in the NBA Finals, something they did two years ago in their last appearance. This was a team effort by the Celtics. Jaylen Brown led the way with 22 points, Jayson Tatum had 16 points and 11 boards, but the main story of Game One was Kristaps Porzingis, who was back in action after being sidelined for quite a bit. Porzingis finished with 20 points in his Finals debut, and also had six boards, and an impressive block in the first quarter. As for the Mavericks, Luka Doncic's first Finals game saw him with 30 points and 10 boards, but he was the only one who really showed up for Dallas, as his other cohorts, including and especially Kyrie Irving, were ghosts.

Winning Game One of the Finals holds a lot of water; the Game One winner goes on to win the Finals nearly 70% of the time, though Boston's Game One win in 2022 did not result in a championship. Will this time be different? We'll see, it's a long series, but it should be a good one.

Game Two is Sunday in Boston.

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