THE conference semi-finals of the 2023/24 National Basketball Association (NBA) postseason ended last Sunday (May 19) with two game sevens — one in each conference — that were absolute nail-biters. And when the dust settled the only thing that was certain was that, for the sixth-straight season, a different NBA champion will again be crowned.

In the first game seven last Sunday in New York, the Knicks entertained the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Gardens. The Knicks, who finished second in the Eastern Conference seedings, looked a shadow of themselves in front of their home crowd while the sixth-seeded Pacers looked like the real deal. It didn’t help that shooting guard Jalen Brunson fractured his left hand in the third quarter, but the Pacers already had a 12-point lead and looked unstoppable at that point.

Brunson, who had his fractured hand surgically repaired earlier this week, managed only 17 points in the embarrassing 109-130 loss, his lowest of a postseason in which he scored 40 points or more in five games, becoming just the fourth player to reach that mark in four consecutive postseason games. He finished the play-offs with 32.4 points per game, second only to the 33 that Joel Embiid averaged in the first round when the Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games.

Now, the reward for the Pacers is an Eastern Conference finals against the only team in the league this season with 60 plus wins, the Boston Celtics, who have been waiting in the wings since May 15 for their opponents to be decided. The series got underway on Tuesday (May 21) with the Pacers giving as good as they got. The game was so closely contested that no team had more than three points than the other in any quarter, and the game was deservedly settled in overtime with a four-point margin of victory for the hosts.

The teams entered half-time equally poised at 64 points each but, after trailing 92-79 with 3:23 left in the third quarter, the Pacers closed the period on a 14-2 run and took the lead early in the fourth. However, Boston regained their footing, and forced only the third overtime of these play-offs before emerging with a 133-129 victory. Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday combined for 90 of Boston’s points, which nullified the six Indiana players in double digits, but the league’s top seed was given a warning in game one that the Pacers are not here by chance and definitely plan to be contenders.

For the Celtics, they plan on going at least one better this year — after losing to the Miami Heat at this stage in 2023 — after posting a historical season: most points in Celtics history (9,887); most made three-pointers in a season in Celtics history (1,351) — second in NBA behind the Golden State Warriors; most home wins to start a season in NBA history (20); most 50-point wins in a season in NBA history (three); most 40-point wins in NBA history (four) — tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder this year; most 30-point wins in NBA history (10) — tied with 1971/72 Milwaukee Bucks; and most games with 15 made three-pointers in NBA history (63) — nine more than the 2022/23 Warriors and 2018/19 Houston Rockets.

The Pacers are the lowest seed left in these play-offs but they have made their presence felt. They last got past the first round in 2014 and were swept in their last two play-off appearances in 2019 and 2020. From all indications, these are not those Pacers and this looking like a long series. If the Celtics thought this would be a joyride they experienced a rude awakening in game one and now their eyes are wide open.

The second game seven on Sunday saw the defending champions Denver Nuggets humbled on their home court following a 90-98 defeat by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Denver built a 53-38 half-time lead and saw that ballon to a 20-point gap in the third quarter, but they somehow wilted under the pressure of the visitors for the remainder of the game.

The league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nikola Jokic put up 34 points and Jamal Murray finally came alive in these play-offs with 35 points, but the Timberwolves had six players with double-figure scoring and put on a second-half performance for the ages. Minnesota completely turned the tables after the half-time break, outscoring their hosts 60-37, which underscored their 45-point win margin in game six when they were facing elimination at home.

The Timberwolves last made the conference finals in 2004, then missed the play-offs for 13 straight seasons. They made postseason appearances in 2018, 2022, and 2023 but lost in the first round on all three occasions. Now, after sweeping Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns in the first round and before eliminating the defending champions in the conference semi-finals, they were good and ready for the next challenge — the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.

And that challenge started on Wednesday (May 22) night in Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dallas had avoided a game seven of their own in the previous series by coming out at the better end of a one-point, game six victory last Saturday (May 18) against Oklahoma City, and their approach to game one of this series was all business. Particularly, Kyrie Irving, who had been mostly dormant for these play-offs and had averaged 1.6 points in the first quarter of the 12 games played, came out like a man on a mission. Possibly motivated by Anthony Edwards’ “I got Kyrie!” utterance after the game seven win on Sunday, Irving dropped 30 points — to complement the 35 from Luka Doncic —in Dallas’s 108-105 win.

Truth be told, the game was a close encounter throughout, with both teams delivering punches and counter-punches to cancel each other’s successful offensive advantage. Minnesota was successful on 18 of 49 three-pointers while Dallas scored on just six of 25, however the Mavericks had 62 points in the paint in contrast to just 38 for the home team. The outcome of the game was really decided on the five turnovers the Timberwolves had in the fourth quarter — after having five through the first three quarters — and a spirited finish from Doncic.

Game two happens this evening, and the NBA world can hardly wait. Will the home team respond with the gusto and energy that has become their trademark in these playoffs or is the Doncic-Irving duo in Dallas finally ready to be what they were expected to be? Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns had only 19 and 16 points, respectively, in game one and a lot more is expected in game two. This series promises nothing but end-to-end excitement and there is no indication that it will not deliver, as promised.

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