The Heat, The Spurs & Nine Thoughts On The 2014 NBA Finals
I think it’s safe to say two things—none of us expected a sequel and none of us are complaining that we have one.
I think it’s safe to say two things—none of us expected a sequel and none of us are complaining that we have one.
The NBA season tips off tonight with three games, highlighted by a TNT doubleheader of Boston-Miami (8 PM ET) and Dallas-LA Lakers (10:30 PM ET). TheSportsNotebook ran its NBA previews for the Eastern & Western conferences this past weekend, offering brief thoughts on each team and a projection for how they would fare against the Over/Under win total posted for them in the Las Vegas sportsbooks. Now it’s time for the final preview, with picks for how each conference will stand up and who eventually claims the title in June.
The NBA Finals are set to tip off on Tuesday night and a new chapter of Finals history will be written. The battle between LeBron James for Miami and Kevin Durant for Oklahoma City is not only a highly appetizing storyline, with it being the league’s consensus best players going head-to-head. But it’s the two best players, each going for their first ring. While the NBA getting the two best players in its championship round is hardly unusual, this type of battle—each looking for a breakthrough title—is not the norm.