The Pendulum Swing: Why Game 1 Feels Crucial for Boston

While, in actuality, it only took a few days for Celtics fans to find out whether it would be the Mavs or Timberwolves as their team’s NBA Finals opponent, it did feel like a lot longer. The Mavs wrapped up the series with a fairly comfortable victory in Minnesota, booking their place as in the Finals and giving Boston fans, players, and Joe Mazzulla a lot to think about.

On paper – and we are being objective here – everything points to a Celtics’ victory. The team had the best record in NBA (both at home and away), beat Dallas twice in the regular season, and face an opponent lacking in experience (Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving aside). Perhaps most telling of all is that no team seeded below…