The Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors are the last teams standing in the 2021-22 NBA season. But, of course, there can only be one who will be able to have a championship parade back in their home. So, who will be the team to take home the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy when it is all said and done in the 2022 NBA Finals?
How about the Celtics, huh? They had the toughest first-round matchup of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, as they had Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets on their plates, but what did the Celtics do? They swept them. Then in the second round, they dethroned the then-reigning NBA champions, Milwaukee Bucks, despite being down 3-2 after five games in the series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston needed seven games to take out the East’s best team in the regular season in the form of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. The Celtics are not as fluid on the floor as Golden State, but they surely have the grittiness to turn ugly games, horrible sequences, and lengthy scoring droughts into victories. There’s just no quit in Boston, which sounds like a boring cliche, but they definitely are hard to crack. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are perfect in their roles, with guys like Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, Al Horford, and Derrick White – even Payton Pritchard – managing to provide ample collective production on both ends of the floor to make things happen for the Celtics.
The Warriors have not been to the NBA Finals in each of the last two seasons, but it still feels as though they are very much at home playing in the grandest stage of the NBA. After all, the core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green have all been there multiple times before. The Warriors have made plenty of changes on the roster since the last time they went to the Finals, but the new pieces perfectly fit with the system. Jordan Poole has come to his own, but without overlapping his role with that of Curry, who will be fueled in this series with a chip on his shoulder. Curry is still missing an NBA Finals MVP which would further cement his legacy. Andrew Wiggins is another guy stepping up for the Warriors. With Poole and Wiggins around, the Warriors are never lacking in firepower. Even Otto Porter, when given a bigger role, can put up solid numbers on offense. Golden State’s baffling offense that’s predicated on excellent passing and almost unreadable movements could be the puzzle that even Boston wouldn’t be able to solve.
