The era of parity Continue in the NBA.
The New York Knicks have not won an NBA championship since 1973. The Indiana Pacers won their most recent title that year, in ABA. The Oklahoma City Thunder franchise has a title in its history, which arrived in 1979 when the team called Seattle Home. And the Timberwolves of Minnesota have never been in the NBA finals.
Meet the last four of the NBA.
When Commissioner Adam Silver The Larry O’Brien trophy stops next month, will mark a league first: seven championship franchises in a period of seven years.
There has been no consecutive NBA champion from Golden State in 2017 and 2018. From there, the champions list is like this: Toronto in 2019, Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023 and Boston last season.
It is the longest streak of different champions in the history of the NBA; Major League Baseball, NHL and NFL have had longer, and not long ago.
But for the NBA, this is different. The League wanted unpredictability, especially after four consecutive clashes of Cleveland-VS.-Golden State from 2015 to 2018.
And things have been very unpredictable since then. No matter what the final confrontation this year, the NBA will see 11 conference champions franchises in the period of seven seasons.
“We still have eight more victories to achieve our ultimate goal,” said Minnesota coach Chris Finch. “We still have two more series. We are only halfway.”
The season is over for 26 of the 30 NBA clubs. But funny things just begin.
The finals of the West Conference – No. 6 Semil Minnesota vs. No. 1 Seed Oklahoma City – They start Tuesday night in Oklahoma. The East Conference Finals – No. 4 Seed Indiana Vs. No. 3 Seed New York – They start Wednesday night in Manhattan. The wolves lost the west finals last year; The Pacers lost the East Finals a year ago.
“You have to have great dreams,” said the coach of the Pacers, Rick Carlisle. “You don’t know how often you will be in this position.”
In fact, the team championship window does not seem to be open while doing so in the past.
Boston was a great favorite to win his second consecutive title; The Celtics did not leave Round 2, partly because they could not hold on to large leads and partly because Jayson Tatum broke the right Achilles tendon In that series with the Knicks.
“Annoy or not, whatever, we beat a great team,” said the Knicks Guard, Jalen Brunson. “Obviously they lost a great piece … but they are still a great team.”
Damian Lillard broke an Achilles tendon in Round 1, ending Milwaukee’s hopes. Cleveland, the best seed in the east, retired in Round 2 against Indiana after a large number of CAVs face health problems. Stephen Curry tightened the ischiotibial; That was all that was needed for Doom Golden State on Round 2 against Minnesota.
“He is our sun,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr. “This is a solar system. He is our sun.”
And now, the NBA solar system is about to see new stars holding the trophy.
There is no one in these playoffs that has been an MVP of the NBA finals. Not even close.
In fact, there are only seven players: Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Thomas Bryant de Indiana; Knicks PJ Tucker teammates, Cam Payne and Mikal Bridges; and Alex Caruso by Oklahoma City, who has appeared in a game of late. And most of those appearances do not add much; Siakam is the only player in these playoffs with more than 100 final points.
So who will be the next MVP final? Maybe Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Canadian guard and probably MVP of thunder? The winner of the “Mr. Clutch” award, Brunson of the Knicks? Anthony Edwards, the alleged next face of the Timberwolves League? Tyrese Haliburton, the dazzling guard and medalist of Olympic gold that all continue to overlook?
None of them would be a surprise choice.
“Our ultimate goal is not just the finals of the West Conference,” said Gilgous-Alexander. “You have to go there to get there.”
If the Final Four of the NBA were his own league this season, taking only the results face to face among those four clubs would suggest that the Thunder are the clear favorite.
Oklahoma City was 6-2 against the other three finalists of the conference, while New York and Indiana were 3-4 and Minnesota was 3-5.
The thunder swept the Pacers and the Knicks, and the Pacers swept the Timberwolves.
As for the headers in the conference finals, Oklahoma City and Minnesota divided four meetings, with the Timberwolves, surpassing Thunder 475-472, while the Knicks were 2-1 against Indiana, with the three games decided by at least 11 points.
“You can feel good about it, feel how you want to feel about it,” Haliburton said about reaching this point. “But at the end of the day, we are not over. We know that we all have a bigger goal in the mind. Our goal was not just to reach the Eastern Conference and finish. Our goal is to win a championship.”
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