2024 NBA Finals simulation predicts high-scoring Celtics-Mavs series

2024 NBA Finals simulation predicts high-scoring Celtics-Mavs series originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are four wins away from becoming the most successful franchise in NBA history. But raising Banner 18 won’t be easy.

After dispatching the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics will square off with the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.

The Mavs are led by two game-changing superstars in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving but also boast an underrated supporting cast led by trade deadline pickups P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford and rookie big man Dereck Lively II. Since Gafford’s first start in Dallas on March 7, only the Celtics have a better record than the Mavs (28-9).

That said, the Celtics will enter this series as heavy favorites after an NBA-best 64-18 regular-season record and a 12-2 record this postseason. Big man Kristaps Porzingis is expected to play in Game 1 after missing the team’s previous 10 playoff games and should give Boston an immediate boost on both ends of the floor.

So, how will this series play out? We asked our partners at Strat-O-Matic — who accurately predicted the Celtics’ regular-season record down to the exact game — to simulate the 2024 NBA Finals, with detailed box scores and recaps for every game.

Here are the full game-by-game results of the simulation, followed by detailed player stats for the series:

2024 NBA Finals Simulation: Game results

Game 1: Celtics 135, Mavs 127

Porzingis comes out firing in his first game action since April 29, hitting a pair of 3-pointers early in the first quarter to help Boston open up a double-digit lead.

The Celtics expand their lead to as many as 17 points, but the Mavs surge back behind a barrage of buckets from Doncic and Irving and take the lead early in the fourth quarter on a Derrick Jones Jr. 3-pointer.

Boston delivers with the game on the line, however, scoring the final 14 points of the contest — including a dagger Porzingis 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining — to clinch a Game 1 win.

Porzingis finishes with 21 points while Tatum and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-nba-finals-simulation-predicts-195454652.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-06-05 20:02:40

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