2024 NBA Finals: How the Celtics and Mavericks found key pieces and built title contenders

The Boston Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals to make their second trip to the NBA Finals in the last three seasons. Boston hasn’t won a title since 2008 when the Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in a six-game series, and the organization has been patiently building around its budding superstar, Jayson Tatum, and the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals, Jaylen Brown.

Coming out of the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks took care of the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games and are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011 when they won their first title. Mavs head coach Jason Kidd was a player on that team 13 years ago and now has the chance to win as a coach. Some speculated that the Mavs’ unique backcourt of ball-dominant players Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving would clash, but the front office has done a fantastic job adding complementary pieces around the All-Star duo. Dallas’ playoff run has been helped by key trades in February (P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford) and smart draft selections in the last two seasons (Dereck Lively III and Jaden Hardy).

Each franchise had a unique road to building its team. Here’s a look at how the key players on both rosters came aboard.

BOSTON CELTICS

Jrue Holiday has been a welcome addition to the Celtics. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Jayson Tatum

The Celtics selected Tatum with the No. 3 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft (Markelle Fultz, No. 1, and Lonzo Ball, No. 2, were picked before Tatum). The 6-foot-8 wing was a top-three recruit coming out of high school and chose the Duke Blue Devils over North Carolina, Kentucky and his hometown school of Saint Louis University. Tatum missed eight games during his one year at Duke due to a foot injury and averaged 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He was named to the ACC All-Freshman team and was a third team All-ACC selection before declaring for the draft.

Tatum had a monster rookie season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. His most memorable moment of his rookie year was a poster dunk on LeBron James during the Eastern Conference…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-04 01:40:16

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