The NBA Finals will tip-off on Thursday night in Boston, as the Celtics host the Mavs in Game 1 on ESPN. The series features seemingly endless storylines, like Kyrie Irving’s return to Boston, Kristaps Porzingis’ return to Dallas, the Mavs building a title contender in a year, and the Celtics looking to finally break through for a championship after more than five years on the doorstep (with their own revamp this past summer).
With all of that adding depth and color to the Finals, the stars still take center stage. For Boston, it’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown looking to fulfill the promise of their pairing and finally quiet the never-ending questions about whether the two star wings can win a title together. For Dallas, it’s Luka Doncic looking to fully assert himself as one of the league’s absolute elite stars, lifting the Mavs to their second championship at 25 years old.
Ahead of Game 1, ESPN released a terrific promo video that isolated Doncic and Tatum in two of their biggest moments from the conference finals, highlighting the road taken to get both teams to this point.
All roads lead here.
It’s time for the #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/36DRavpaIL
— ESPN (@espn) June 5, 2024
For Doncic, they went with his instant classic game-winner from Game 2 when he danced on Rudy Gobert and put a dagger in the Wolves heart over the DPOY. For Tatum, it was his late overtime three that helped put Game 1 on ice in a stunning fourth quarter and OT comeback against the Pacers that set them on course for a sweep.
As the Finals arrive, we’ll see if Tatum and Doncic get the chance to author more late-game heroics, and which star (or surprising hero) steps up to lead their team to a championship.
