Sports

The NBA Conference Finals matchups are set.

How did each team get there?

Editor Brady Landry

9/30/2020

The NBA bubble has been full of buzzer beaters, close games, and drama. Now, near the tail end of the third month in the bubble, there are only four teams remaining. The Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers. Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are all battling to see who will be the best in the bubble.

Los Angeles Lakers

In June of 2019, The Lakers acquired Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans after the former asked for a trade. The trade worked gangbusters, with the duo of Lebron James and Davis, along with role players like Avery Bradley, Kyle Kuzma, and Danny Green leading the Lakers to the one seed in the West. After eliminating the pesky Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets in five games each, the Lakers find themselves up 2 games to 1 against the underdog Denver Nuggets.

Denver Nuggets

Nobody predicted the Nuggets to make it this far. After being down 3-1 against the Utah Jazz, almost everyone counted out the Nuggets. But the unthinkable happened, as Denver clawed back and one a thrilling game seven, as Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic combined for 47 points in a 80-78 win. In the second round, against the highly favored Los Angeles Clippers the Nuggets once again came back from a 3-1 deficit and blew out the Clippers in game 7 104-89. They advanced to the Conference finals where they are now down 2-1.

Miami Heat

In July of 2019, the Miami Heat completed a sign-and-trade deal with the Philadelphia 76ers that sent Josh Richardson to Philly and star forward Jimmy Butler to the Heat. Many critics thought the trade was pointless for the Heat, but they were quickly proven wrong as Butler and the young Heat team got the fourth seed in the East, and achieved a gentleman’s sweep of the first seed Bucks (granted, star forward and two time MVP Giannis Anthetokumpo was out with an injury.) With a tightly contested series and multiple 4th quarter comebacks from the Heat, the team from South beach holds a 2-1 lead over the Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics

After a tumultuous 2018-19 campaign filled with team fighting, questionable leadership and an early playoff exit, the Boston Celtics lost their superstar point guard Kyrie Irving and veteran center Al Horford in free agency. Their response? Sign superstar point guard Kemba Walker and rebound machine Enes Kanter, allow Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to develop,and fill out the rest of the roster with rookies. Many people predicted the Celtics to be good, but not get past the 76ers and Raptors which is just what they did. Without Ben Simmons, Philadelphia collapsed as Joel Embiid struggled to carry the team with Tobias Harris and ex-Celtic Al Horford not performing. In a second round thriller of a series, Boston pulled out a seven game series win. Now the Celtics are battling to stay alive, down 2-1 against the Heat.