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The NBA Finals have a lot of local angles, mostly about Duke.
What should be a tremendous NBA Finals tips off tonight in Boston where the regular-season supreme Celtics face the surging Dallas Mavericks; despite the seedings, it should be one helluva series.
The top-seeded Celtics ran away from the NBA East with a 64-18 record, sixth-best in league history. They entered the playoffs with home-court advantage all the way through, dispatched the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, both 4-1, and swept the Indiana Pacers — all while not losing a single road game.
The Mavericks, the fifth seed in the West, demonstrated their late-season chops by beating the fourth-seeded Clippers, top-seeded Thunder and third-seeded Timberwolves, all who owned home-court advantages. Dallas won an amazing six times on the road.
Boston has the best starting lineup in the NBA, with high statistical standing on both offense and defense, led by Dukie Jayson Tatum and Cal-Berkeley’s Jaylen Brown, obviously two pretty smart guys; comeback player of the year Derrick White and trade steal Jrue Holiday. Al Horford, 38 and a sixth man all season, has started at center in the playoffs until Kristaps Porzingis returns, which is expected tonight.
Dallas has perhaps the best two-man combination in the league with a backcourt of perennial MVP candidate Luka Doncic and 2011 top draft pick Kyrie Irving (another Dukie and former Celtic). Their deep bench includes 7-foot rookie Dereck Lively, yes, another Dukie, and one with Carolina ties, Dante Exum, the son of former Tar Heel Cecil Exum.
Porzingis spent three seasons with the Mavericks, after being traded by the New York Knicks who made the 7-2 Latvian the fourth pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The 240-pound Porzingis has been injury prone during his career and missed 25 games this season either rehabbing or resting, now reportedly recovered from a leg injury.
So how the TD Garden crowd treats Irving tonight and other home games in Boston, plus the rabid Mavericks fans welcoming back Porzingis, will be interesting sidebars and fodder for talking heads on ABC, who hopefully won’t include screaming Stephen A. Smith.
In the prime seats will be the team owners, Dallas multi-billionaire Mark Cuban who originally got rich by starting the first radio streaming website called broadcast.com and selling the rights for millions. He is also well-known for starring on the Shark Tank TV reality series. Cuban was originally the principal owner of the Mavs before selling the majority interest.
On the other side of the scorer’s table will be the Grousbeck family, which owns the Celtics and is among the Boston billionaires. Even wealthier than the Grousbecks is minority owner Stephen Pagliuca, a private equity investor worth more than Cuban. Pagliuca is a 1977 Duke grad who played freshman basketball. His son was a walk-on for Coach K, graduating in 2017, Tatum’s one-and-done season.
Featured image via Associated Press/Michael Conroy
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Looks this year like Duke’s “brotherhood” (TM) will finally break into double figures on the number of NBA championship rings won by its members. UNC’s basketball family should do the classy thing and take out ads congratulating them on that achievement…and note their own three dozen NBA rings.