Boston Returns to East Finals; Dallas A Win Away for the West
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 16 May 2024
Fittingly, Boston, the first team to qualify for the playoffs, is also the first to advance to the Conference Finals in the East.
Meanwhile, fifth seed Dallas is in the brink of upsetting the formchart as it comes a win away of breaking into the Conference Finals in the West.
The Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 113-98 to clinch their semifinals series 4-1 and make another return to the Eastern Conference Finals, their third straight in as many seasons.
The Mavericks outplayed the top seed OKC Thunder, 104-92 to go ahead of their own semifinals series, 3-2, needing just another win as the series goes back to Dallas to book another Conference Finals seat in the West in more than 12 years.
Incidentally, Dallas starring Dirk Nowitzki met and ousted OKC in their last Western Finals appearance in 2011.
Playing before their home crowd at TD Garden arena, the Celtics were highly favored to blow out Cleveland as Caris LeVert joined Donovan Mitchell in the Cavs injury list.
But the Cavs gave Boston a good fight as center Eric Mobley and former Celtic Marcus Morris Sr had their most productive night.
However Jason Tatum drew support from center Al Horford and Derreck White who broke out from his scoring slump to keep Cleveland at bay throughout the match.
Tatum had another near triple double of 25 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists. Horford supported him with 22 points and 15 rebounds. White had 18 points and Jrue Holiday 13 points to cover for Jaylen Brown's quiet 11 points. Coming off the bench, Payton Pritchard also had 11 points and Luke Kornet contributed 9 points to the winning cause.
Mobley led the Cavs with 33 points while Morris poured in 25 points. Max Struss had 12 points and Darius Garland added 11 points.
Boston will have the opportunity to redeem itself from last season's East Conference meltdown against the Miami Heat.
Dallas proved better than Oklahoma in a game of constant adjustments as Derrick Jones Jr's scoring helped Luka Doncic on offense in the face of lean production from PJ Williamson and Kyrie Irving. Also playing instrumental roles were big men Daniel Galford and Derrick Lively ll.
Shai Gilgeous Alexander was his usual productive self but lacked the support from his other teammates.
Doncic as usual topped for Dallas with triple double performance of 31 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Jones scored 18 points as Williamson was limited to 10 points. Irving had 11 points.
Alexander was good for 30 points but Holmgren just managed 13 points. Lu Dorf and Jalen Williams scored 12 points each and reserve Josh Giddey added 11 points.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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