2024 NBA Finals: Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have owned clutch time, but Celtics’ star duo isn’t far behind

Though the Boston Celtics are nearly a 2-to-1 favorite to win the title over the Dallas Mavericks, this feels like a much closer series than that. Maybe the books are right. Maybe Boston has been the best team all season and will validate that status with authority over the next few weeks. Personally, I don’t think it will play that way. 

I think the Mavericks win in seven, but in either case, whether Dallas or Boston ultimately hoists the Larry O’Brien Trophy, I expect the series to be extremely close. One of my bold predictions, in fact, is that at least six of these games will meet the “clutch” standard, meaning they will be within five points at some point within the final five minutes. 

Which is to say, this series will be decided in closing time. It is through this prism that I’m leaning Dallas courtesy of the late-game magic of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, who are — are you ready for this? — a combined 7 for 9 in their postseason careers (Luka 4 for 5, Kyrie 3 for 4) on game-tying/go-ahead shots inside the final minute. 

This includes Irving’s Game 7 magic in the 2016 Finals, which might very well go down as the biggest shot in history.

Trim the clock down to the final 24 seconds to either tie or take the lead, and these two literally haven’t missed. Irving has taken just one of these shots in his playoff career, finishing a layup to tie the game vs. Boston with 11 seconds to play in Game 3 of the 2017 Eastern Conference finals. 

Doncic, meanwhile, has taken three of these shots over the course of his young career, and he’s drained every one of them. That ties him for the most makes on such shots without a miss by any player in the last 25 years (Trae Young is also 3 for 3). His library includes the first-round buzzer beater to stun the Clippers in the 2020 bubble …

And his most recent game-winner over Rudy Gobert in Game 2 of this year’s Western Conference finals …

These are career shots, so disregard what might look like a small sample size. Shots like this — even the opportunities, let alone the…


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Author : Brad Botkin

Publish date : 2024-06-06 13:11:19

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