After what has been a season full of twists and turns, we finally have our final two combatants jostling for the biggest prize in the sport. The Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors will face off in the 2022 NBA Finals but there is a stark contrast in how they have managed to get here.
The Warriors breezed through the Western Conference, for the most part, dispatching the Denver Nuggets in 5 games, then the Memphis Grizzlies in 6, and then finally the Dallas Mavericks in 5 in the Conference Finals. The Celtics, meanwhile, have been pushed to the brink repeatedly and have some battle scars to show for it. They swept the Brooklyn Nets in the opening round, but we were taken to 7 games by both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat. That has led to some concerns that the Celtics might be running on empty as they make their way to Game 1, but Steve Kerr had a very different view of the situation.
(via San Francisco Chronicle:)
“Sometimes you get through the gauntlet like that and you come out on the other side, you’re stronger for it,” Kerr said. “So once you get to this point and you get a fresh start, nothing else really matters. You’re here and you lay it on the line.”
Kerr is right, as going through these wars and then coming out on top, has made the Celtics a better team now. They are not going to shrink when the lights get brighter, thanks to all that they’ve already been through in this run.
The lack of rest shouldn’t be much of a factor here and neither should the fact that the Warriors do have a massive edge when it comes to Finals experience. These Celtics have repeatedly shown in these playoffs that they are built for the big occasion and look for them to step up to it once again.
