We have them. All the finalists from both conference finals. There is virtually no room for error. The stakes are high, the pressure is immense, and the opponents are old friends. Who’s gonna beat who?!
LA Lakers – as confident as they have not been for a long time
The Los Angeles Lakers, the team from the City of Angels, are moving full steam ahead. After a surprisingly smooth elimination of the high-flying Memphis Grizzlies in the opening round of the playoffs, they’re not stopping any time soon. The Golden State Warriors are the next obstacle behind them. Last year’s champions looked like a pale shadow of the championship team they were against the Lakers, which only confirms the current strength of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest. There’s not much time to rest, with the upcoming matchups against Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets.
Denver Nuggets with a bit more rest but less experience
A similar story to the one of the Los Angeles team also took place with the other Western Conference finalists – the Denver Nuggets, for which Slovenian national team player Vlatko Čančar also plays. Unfortunately, the Slovenian is only getting little play time in the current situation, but the stakes are too high, coach Mike Malone has confidence in the players who are also much higher on the payroll than the Slovenian.
What’s the story? As the league’s top-ranked team on the West Coast, the Nuggets first knocked off Minnesota, then Phoenix, who even the newcomer Kevin Durant didn’t help to face the much more experienced LA Lakers in the conference finals. But with Serbian Nikola Jokić on the wings, Denver’s less experienced players will be a real thorn in their side.
The kick-off game goes to Denver
The two teams have already played their first match on Wednesday our local time. The Nuggets won on their home court with a score of 132:126. Nikola Jokić was the flaghorse of the victory, and interestingly enough, he loves horses and watches the races whenever time allows him to do so. He recorded an outstanding statistical night. He scored 34 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and successfully engaged his teammates 14 more times.
“We were excellent in the first half and controlled the game. In the second half, we lost control, but we showed what a good team we are. We knew they were going to come close. This is a great team. But in the end it doesn’t matter how close it was, a win is a win and that’s all that counts,” said Jokić after the game.
Murray was next in scoring with 31 points. Anthony Davis was the most efficient for the losers, scoring 40 points, LeBron added 26.
” We needed one half to get into the game. They made a tremendous start and we got our teeth kicked in. I know it’s a 48-minute game, but in the first 24 minutes they laid the foundations and in the next 24 we were chasing them,” said James.
The next meeting will take place on Friday night.
Boston sealed Philadelphia’s fate in “Game 7”.
It was a great series between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, which was decided in the last game of the series, Game 7. It was the Celtics march to victory, Jayson Tatum was unstoppable, taking off his shackles and scoring a staggering 51 points, a new record for a game seven. On the other hand, the current league MVP Joel Embiid was disappointing, but at the same time, he pointed fingers at his teammates! The video, which quickly went viral on social media, naturally caused a lot of outrage among Philadelphia fans.
On the other hand, the great Tatum had a lot more to be happy about.
“I played badly in the game 6, but I finished it very well. I knew the whole season was on the line and this was my chance to prove myself. I couldn’t play that badly again. We were really hanging on by a thread on Thursday in Philadelphia, we were on the brink of a collapse at the start of the fourth quarter. On home soil, we are the favourites. I was very comfortable and that’s the key in important games like this. It hasn’t been quite so loud in Gardner yet this season. That helped us a lot,”
explained Tatum, 25, who was selected third overall by the Celtics in 2017, at the press conference. They will play the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Heat from Florida to the Conference Final over New York
Jimmy Butler once again proved what a great basketball player he is. He was the key man in the Miami Heat’s victory over the New York Knicks. On the other side, the great Jalen Brunson, the newcomer from Dallas, was no help whatsoever. The series started on Thursday night and we will follow it more in-depth as it continues.
Interesting fact:
All of this year’s Conference Finals participants are the same teams that were in Orlando during the so-called “bubble” of the covid crisis, when the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat, for whom Goran Dragic was supposed to play but a foot injury prevented him from playing, reached the Finals. The LA Lakers won the championship that year. How will it be this year?
