After a pair of Game 7s on Sunday that saw both road teams win, the 2024 NBA Playoffs have officially reached the Conference Finals and a new NBA Champion is guaranteed to be crowned at the end of the postseason.
The Western Conference will see arguably the NBA’s two best young stars face off as Anthony Edwards leads the third-seed Minnesota Timberwolves against Luka Doncic and the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks. The East will see the top-seed Boston Celtics take on Tyrese Haliburton and the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers.
With the matchups all set, the NBA has released the schedules for the Conference Finals, kicking off on Tuesday with the Eastern Conference:
The Minnesota @Timberwolves move on to face the @dallasmavs in the Western Conference Finals, which will begin on Wednesday, May 22 at 8:30 PM ET on @NBAonTNT.
Schedule ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ALNVO9edb8
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 20, 2024
The Indiana @Pacers move on to face the Boston @celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, which will begin on Tuesday, May 21 at 8:00 PM ET on @ESPNNBA.
Schedule ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/o5km9xbenu
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 19, 2024
The Celtics hosting the Pacers will start off the Conference Finals while the West will get started on Wednesday in Minnesota with the Timberwolves hosting the Mavericks. Each series will be played every other day, so there will be NBA Playoff basketball every night starting on Tuesday for at least the next week.
In the East, the Celtics will be a heavy favorite as the top-seed going against a young Pacers team that hasn’t been in the Conference Finals since 2014. While both teams have benefitted from taking on injury-riddled teams in the playoffs so far, this remains an intriguing matchup of the NBA’s two highest-scoring teams during the regular season.
The Timberwolves shocked the world by coming back from 20 points down on the road in Game 7 to eliminate the defending champion Denver Nuggets and their defense has driven them to success throughout the postseason. But the Mavericks’ superstar duo of of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving has been outstanding and regardless of who comes out on top, one of the NBA’s brightest stars will make their first NBA Finals appearance.
LeBron James not involved in Lakers head coach search?
After making it last season, the Los Angeles Lakers did not make it to the Conference Finals in 2024 and are now in search of a new head coach. Regardless of who they ultimately choose, superstar LeBron James apparently won’t be involved.
The latest rumors are that LeBron is not involved at all in the search and is leaving it up to the Lakers themselves to make the decision. The rumors also added that James hasn’t talked to candidate JJ Redick, whom he hosts a podcast with, about the job either.
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