While We’re Young (Ideas) – The 2024 NBA Finals
By TERRY LYONS
BOSTON – Since yours truly rode off to the sunset from the halls of Olympic Tower-645 Fifth Avenue at the NBA in 2008, there’s been only one occasion for a road trip to the NBA Finals and that came June 9, 11 and 14, 2009 when the hometown Orlando Magic were overmatched against the LA Lakers with the late Kobe Bryant leading the way to the first of back-to-back NBA titles in ‘09 and 2010. Thankfully, since NBA Finals travel budgets for Digital Sports Desk were somewhat limited, it’s been nice that the Finals come to my hometown every now and then. For instance:
- 2022: The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics, 4-2
- 2010: The LA Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics, 4-3
- 2008: The Boston Celtics defeated the LA Lakers, 4-2
There’s been a bit of a drought for major sports championships on Causeway Street, dating back to the Boston Bruins defeating the Vancouver Canucks in 2011. Since the Year 2000, Boston/New England major professional sports teams have won a dozen championships, including six Super Bowl titles by the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots. Both the Sox and Patriots won in 2018. The list since the year 2000:
- Patriots championships: 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018
- Red Sox championships: 2004, 2007, 2013, 2018
- Celtics championship: 2008
- Bruins championship: 2013
Sunday night, your intrepid columnist will be working his 140th NBA Finals game, highlighted by 135 consecutive games in the early ‘80s to 2007. The NBA game has changed drastically since Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Finals. In that contest, the final game of a 4-0 sweep of the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers by the San Antonio Spurs, there were a combined 41 three-point field goals attempted. On Thursday, Boston shot 42 three-pointers on their own.
Looking further back to the great LA vs Boston (and Philadelphia 76ers) championship series of the ‘80s, the object of the game was to score off the fast break with easily made baskets in transition. “Showtime” orchestrated by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the Lakers was based on pushing the ball up court and a combination of NBA All-time great James Worthy, two-guard Byron Scott or soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Michael Cooper could all finish with the best of ‘em all.
If the “Showtime” Lakers didn’t have a scoring opportunity off the break, the ball would cycle out and Johnson would yo-yo the basketball with his right fist in the air which signaled the most reliable scoring play in NBA history – a toss into the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the block for his unstoppable sky-hook.
The ‘86 Boston Celtics didn’t have Abdul-Jabbar and the sky-hook but they had one of – if not THE – most cohesive offensive units in NBA history. Again, the Celtics relied on controlling the defensive boards, throwing a crisp outlet pass and scoring easy baskets off their patented fast break.
If there wasn’t an opportunity to score off the break, the Celtics had size and scoring from a frontline unmatched in NBA history. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish formed “the Big 3” while the smarts of Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge – and before them – Nate “Tiny” Archibald – moved the basketball and hit the open man time after time. In ‘86, the late, great Bill Walton joined the rotation to back-up Parish with more size, rebounding and scoring. The oft-injured Walton was able to play 80 of 82 games that season and won NBA Sixth Man honors.
Fast forward to the analytics-driven age of the NBA today and watch Dallas and Boston hoist nearly 80 shots from downtown, much to the delight of the Golden State Warriors of Steph Curry’s time when the Warriors won four NBA titles (2015, ‘17, ‘18 and 2022). The Warriors relied on Curry and Klay Thompson’s uncanny shooting abilities to score three points for every two-point basket by their opponents.
While the three-pointer was utilized in the 1960s by the American Basketball Association (ABA), adopted into the NBA in 1979-80, accelerated by Rick Pitino’s Providence team (1985-87) and his NBA New York Knicks teams of 1987-89, it was perfected by Curry and the Warriors – largely because of Curry’s unbelievable range.
(As an fyi – the three-pointer was actually “tested” in college basketball in 1945 with a 21-foot line in a game featuring Columbia and Fordham. It reappeared in 1958 for another one-nighter between Siena and St. Francis (NY) before the defunct ABL wrote the “3” into the rule book in 1961. The Eastern Pro League utilized the long distance shot in 1963 and then the ABA put “Downtown” on the map for good when they began play in 1967-68).
While the “three” wasn’t in Dr. James Naismith’s original rules of the game of basketball, the shot became quite popular with fans and was largely and “only” used when a team trailed significantly and needed to comeback from a large deficit in the fourth quarter.
Long before Curry and the Warriors, Louie Dampier and Darel Carrier of the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels utilized the three-pointer much to their advantage, scoring frequently and opening up the middle for Hall of Famers Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore.
Maybe that was a foreshadowing of the NBA of 2024 as the Celtics and Mavericks both spread the court, rotated the basketball and hit open jump shooters for three-point attempts more and better than any other championship-level teams in the league.
There’s no special insight into the outcome of the NBA Finals, other than the belief it is far from being over. The impact of Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis was quite apparent in Game 1 as he returned from a month-long layoff, nursing a sore calf muscle. Porzingis had 20 points, six rebounds, and three blocks in the Celtics’ 107-89 Game 1 win over the Mavericks. Obviously, if Porzingis (and starting center Al Horford) can spread the court, score from downtown and defend the rim, the scales of victory lean towards Boston.
Early in this series, the old adage remains: “A series doesn’t really begin until a team wins on the road.”
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The NHL and NHL Players Association are getting into the business of running international events. The organizations announced that the Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston will serve as host venues and cities for the 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025, which will feature international tournament play between NHL Players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States. In addition, the NHL and NHLPA announced the 4 Nations Face-Off schedule of games, which will be broadcast exclusively in North America by The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), TNT Sports, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
The 4 Nations Face-Off will consist of a total of seven games played over a nine-day period from Feb. 12-20, 2025 along with two designated training/practice days (Feb. 10 and Feb. 11). All games in the 4 Nations Face-Off will be played in accordance with NHL rules. Each team will play three tournament games in a traditional Round Robin format, under the following points system: three points for a win in regulation time; two points for a win in overtime/shootout; one point for a loss in overtime/shootout; and 0 points for a loss in regulation time. The two teams with the best tournament record will then advance to a one-game final which will be played in Boston. Look for the first six players from each team to be announced Friday, June 28.
NHL MAX-MID-MIN TEAM SALARY: The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association announced Team Payroll Ranges for the 2024-25 season. The lower limit for team salary is going to be $65.0 million, the midpoint of $76.5 million and an upper limit or cap of $88.0 million.
FIRST NBA FINALS AND FIRST CUP FINAL: After five seasons of being All-NBA first team, Dallas’ Luka Doncic is playing in his first NBA championship series. Similarly, all world NHL star Connor McDavid is making his first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. Doncic is 25 years old and hails from Ljubljana (Slovenia) while McDavid is 27 years old and grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario (Canada). McDavid, the most skilled and outstanding player in ice hockey, led his Edmonton Oilers to the Final (which began at 8pm ET June 8). McDavid is a three time Hart Memorial Trophy winner (MVP) and a five time Art Ross Trophy winner as the leading scorer in the NHL. The match-up, pitting the Florida Panthers vs Western Canada’s Oilers, does not figure to fare very well with the annual Nielsen ratings system. … On the other hand, Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics’ 18-point victory over Doncic’s Mavericks, delivered the largest Game 1 audience share ever on ABC with 20.3 percent, quadrupling the viewership of the closest competition on television, according to Nielsen. Additionally, the audience share in the coveted 18-34 demographic rated at 49.6 percent, the largest ever for an NBA Finals Game 1 on ABC. Translated, Game 1 averaged 11 million viewers, peaking with more than 12 million viewers from 9:15-9:30pm (ET) when the Celtics blew the game open. By comparison though, Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals (Chicago Bulls defeating the Utah Jazz) drew 35.89 million viewers.