The NBA Finals don’t start until June 6th, but it’ll be well worth the wait.

No one would’ve expected the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics to be the NBA Finals matchup six weeks ago, but the championship series has everything you could ask for from a neutral perspective.

There are star players on each side with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. I’m sure ESPN will hot-take you to death on which player is the best in the series and how you should rank them 1-4. Luka’s the best and I don’t think it’s particularly close right now, but that’s just my opinion.

Then there’s the element of drama mixed in with Kyrie headed back to Boston. And oh, by the way, the narrative of Kristaps Porzingis returning to Dallas is in play as well.

Speaking of Porzingis, his status will be under the spotlight for the next week because he is Boston’s difference-maker to neutralize what Dallas can do in the paint. The Mavs killed the Minnesota Timberwolves with Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford. They still might do that to the Celtics, but with Porzingis in there, it makes for a fascinating matchup.


Dallas’ acquisitions of Gafford and P.J. Washington were a trade-deadline masterclass from the Mavs, another storyline that will be talked about ad nauseum.

From a Sixers viewpoint, it’s frustrating to see a team that killed the deadline in the Finals. The Sixers weren’t specifically after Gafford and Washington, but what if the Sixers made better moves instead of just adding Buddy Hield and Cameron Payne? They may not have beaten the Celtics, but maybe that would’ve put the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals. But enough about the Sixers. I’m digressing from the great basketball we’re about to watch.

The Celtics have been the favorite to win the title all season long, but I don’t think we’re in for a coronation like we were with the Denver Nuggets last season.

Dallas has proved to be a worthy challenger to all of the top teams in the West, and it should take that same challenge to Boston.

We haven’t seen a seven-game NBA Finals since the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors in 2016. We could be headed in that direction if Dallas brings the same effort against Boston, and that would be a welcome end to the NBA season, even if it’s going to end in late June if it goes seven games.