Fans take shot at predicting champion of NBA Finals

As the NBA postseason approaches the finals, it’s important to get insight on an NBA’s fans prediction on who will win the championship. 

At the beginning of the regular season, many NBA fans speculated that the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers would be in the competition for the NBA Finals due to the veteran superstar future Hall of Famers both teams had; however, that is not the case as the Nets were knocked out in the first round against the Boston Celtics and Lakers not even clinching the playoffs with their superstar Lebron James. 

For the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics will be competing for a spot in the NBA Finals. For the NBA’s Western Conference Finals, the Dallas Mavericks and San Francisco Golden State Warriors will be competing for a NBA Finals spot as well.

Senior Carter Juhl, a Celtics and NBA fan since he was 5 years old, believes that the Boston Celtics will take it all the way to win the NBA Finals Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. “I predict that the Celtics will win the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat in game six, then proceed to win the NBA Finals in game five against the Mavericks. After many years of letting our three key players Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Markus Smart develop their game. I believe the Celtics to be the NBA 2021-2022 Finals champions. You can take into account that Smart is this season’s DPOY and that Tatum and Brown have developed their scoring abilities to an even higher level compared to last season. With that, the Celtics have a well rounded team with important role players such as Robert Williams, Grant Williams, Derrick White and veteran player Al Horford.” 

For the Celtics, they had a pretty tough schedule when it first came to the playoffs. At first, they had to compete against the Brooklyn Nets, which had former two time Finals MVP Kevin Durant and NBA superstar Kyrie Irving. Celtics won 4-0, sweeping the Nets. Following that, the Celtics had to face last year’s championship team, Millwuakee Bucks, and this year’s MVP runner, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Celtics won in game seven, series 4-3.

Data science teacher Josh Wilkinson, NBA and Mavericks fan since he was 10 years old, thinks otherwise. “I believe that the Mavericks will win the Western Conference Finals with how Luka Dončić is playing. So far Dončić is playing like an absolute beast putting insane numbers on both sides of the court. Another contribution to the Mavericks would be how our role players are playing as well. If Spencer Dinwiddie and Jalen Bruson continue to show up for the team, then I see the Mavericks beating the Warriors in game seven. Although, due to my predictions from the beginning of the season, I predicted that the Heat would win it all in game seven against the Mavericks in the finals.” 

So far, the Mavericks are off to a great start. The Mavericks superstar, Luka Dončić, also put up great numbers when against the Suns who had players in top five categories this year. Dončić received more points than Devin Booker, more assists than Chris Paul, more rebounds than DeAndre Ayton and more steals than Mikal Bridges. If Dončić stays healthy and the Mavericks role players continue to step up, there’s a possibility that the Mavericks could make it to the Finals to win their second championship. With their first being in 2011.