Brandon Jackson

No matter where you looked. before the NBA season started, experts everywhere had both the Cavaliers and the Warriors making at least the conference finals. The opponents varied a little bit between the Rockets, the Thunder, the Celtics, and the Wizards.

The conference finals are finally here, and both matchups are ones we fully expected to see. Warriors vs. Rockets, Cavs vs. Celtics.

The teams involved are no surprise. But the circumstances in which they got here are different than expected.

Starting with the Rockets, they added a huge piece to their lineup in Chris Paul over the summer, and we knew it would pay huge dividends. We didn’t know it would happen so quickly. Paul was inserted into the starting lineup and the Rockets did not miss a beat. They were the best team in the league all season long. They finished with the best record in the NBA, which few expected.

They have a real shot to dethrone the Warriors in this series because they have the necessary firepower on offense and the personnel on defense to hang with the defending champs.

The Warriors, were not the #1 seed in the west for the first time since 2014, aka the last season of the Mark Jackson era. The Warriors didn’t win 60 games in the regular season for the first time since 2014 also. And right now, it does not matter in the slightest.

The Warriors will begin the conference finals in another teams gym for the first time in years, and in all honesty, will probably blow the doors off of the Rockets. They are too good for any team to contain over a 7 game series.

In theory, the Rockets could win. They could shoot the lights out for two weeks straight and beat the Warriors in 7. It could happen. I suppose. But until this team with Kevin Durant loses 4 games in one series, I will continue to believe this is the best basketball team ever assembled. We can enjoy the show while it lasts, but it seems inevitable that the Golden State Warriors will be your 2018 NBA Champions.

But there’s intrigue on the other side too!

We get to see if Brad Stevens can come up with a scheme to defeat LeBron James. LeBron has been to the NBA Finals 7 straight times. That is an unbelievable amount of consistency for any single player.

This postseason has shown what Stevens is truly capable of. Both teams the Celtics have beaten have had what seemed to be more talent on them. But the Celtics coaching staff has done a great job of retooling on the fly. We already know what kind of player Al Horford can be, but the explosion of Terry Rozier has been phenomenal to watch. Jayson Tatum is red hot, and Jaylen Brown has been effective despite playing through a hamstring injury.

When the season started, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving were supposed to lead the Celtics to the exact spot they made it to. Hayward was gone five minutes into the season, and Irving was lost for the season in April after knee surgery. The fact the Celtics have been able to win tough games against very talented teams is a testament to their will, talent, and coaching.

As good as Stevens has been, LeBron has been that much better. He has put himself further into the “greatest of all time” conversation (which I believe he’s #1 on that list). If the MVP was voted on during the playoffs instead of the end of the regular season, LeBron James would be your unanimous 2017-2018 MVP. He’s been that dominant.

This series could end in any number of ways that wouldn’t be surprising. Cavs in 4, Celtics in 4, Cavs in 6 or 7, and vice versa. Ultimately, I think the Cavs win one of the first two in Boston, win game 3, lose game 4, and win the next 2 in the series to finish it in 6 in Cleveland.

That will set up part 4 in the series between the Warriors and Cavs, which could end the same way as Infinity War.