Best NBA Finals Match-Ups
by AAA Sports
Monday, Mar 24, 2025I propose five hypothetical Finals matchups that the League would love to see:1. BOSTON vs. LOS ANGELES LAKERS – Duh. Outside of the other playoff teams and their fan bases, who WOULDN’T want to see these two go at it for the umpteenth time? Adam Silver and the NBA marketing department would have the easiest sale of their lives with this one. LeBron James gets another crack at Boston and LA tries to even up the championships won at 18 each. The Celtics, heavy favorites to win the East and also a slighter favorite to win their second straight title, would like nothing better than to take out LBJ and once again expose Luka Doncic. For this matchup to happen, both teams will have to (barring huge upsets) take out conference champs (Cleveland and Oklahoma City) who have dominated the regular season. Odds to win conference – Lakers +700, Celtics -1202. CLEVELAND vs. OKLAHOMA CITY – Speaking of the Cavs and Thunder, why in the world SHOULDN’T they be rewarded with an A on their report cards after doing their homework for the last six months? Cleveland had the East clinched by January, and OKC doing pretty much the same thing in the West. The teams are still battling for best record overall and with that home-court advantage in a Finals series. That could prove significant because in the only sampling this year, each team won pretty easily on its home court. Oddly, the Cavs’ 7-point win came just 8 days before the Thunder won by 20 in Oklahoma City. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning the MVP Award would add some shine to the first real Finals between two small-market teams since 2007 when San Antonio swept the Cavs. Odds to win conference – Thunder -135, Cavaliers +2103. NEW YORK vs. LOS ANGELES LAKERS – Ok, the Knicks do have to do some heavy lifting to get this far, but a 7-game East Coast-West Coast Finals between these teams would definitely rock the casbah, and then some. Lots of demons could be exorcised if this one happens. Doncic could show the world that he can indeed drag himself through an entire post-season without wilting. NY’s Karl-Anthony Towns could shake his rep as a soft player, and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeu could say “stuff it” to everyone who says he plays his rotation players too many minutes. Imagine Bronny getting a ring? Instagram would blow up in minutes. Odds to win conference – Lakers +700, Knicks +7504. GOLDEN STATE vs. BOSTON – Steph Curry’s tailbone better be OK, or this one has zero chance of happening. Imagine the barrage of 3s if the teams meet in a re-match of the 2022 Finals when the Warriors picked themselves off the mat, battled back from a 2-1 deficit and stopped the Celtics in their tracks. Since Game 6 of that series, the Celtics have taken well north of 10,000 3-pointers, and a new battle against the Warriors and Curry would no doubt produce hundreds more. That could open things up for mid-range expert Jimmy Butler, whose presence would no doubt cause Miami’s Pat Riley to have stomach pains. Odds to win conference – Warriors +750, Celtics -1205. DETROIT vs. HOUSTON – A little off the wall, to be sure, but the re-birth of two downtrodden franchises getting to the Finals would send a message to all the tanking teams that you can actually win by building through the draft and making solid decisions. Last season the Pistons won only 14 games, the worst in the NBA, and the year before that the Rockets had 22 victories, tied for second-worst (yes, Detroit was the worst that year, too). Yet here they are, knocking on the door. Long odds of either getting to the Finals, but stranger things have happened. Odds to win conference – Rockets +4000, Pistons +10000
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