The NBA Finals Matchup is INSANE

The Boston Celtics have made it back to the NBA Finals and this time it's going to be Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown trying to get their first championship vs Luka Doncic who is also seeking to do the same. And the drama between these two teams runs so deep so before we get to the content make sure you drop like, subscribe and turn on our notifications to help the channel grow. Now that we got all that out of the way let's get into the intro. Before we start this upload PrizePix has us with another free square. All Dustin Poirier needs is one significant strike at UFC 302 for his square to cash. Which means you could pair his free square with any player in the NBA and get up to 3x your money. And right now when you use my promo code FLIGHTMIKE on PrizePix they'll double your deposit match up to $100. I'll let you guys know what my picks are on my Instagram page at The Flight Mike. And thank you PrizePix for the sponsor. Mic Check 1212 What's going on everybody? The Boston Celtics are huge winners for making it back to the NBA Finals. I mean the Dallas Mavericks are even bigger winners for making it to the NBA Finals. The only person that I could think of that is a huge loser in this scenario is Grant Williams. Oh my god poor guy. I mean one year ago Grant Williams was a huge role player on the Boston Celtics but because of the brand new CBA the Celtics had to move on from him. They traded Grant Williams to the Dallas Mavericks in a sign and trade agreement but Grant Williams wasn't getting along with the Dallas Mavericks and was traded during the trade deadline to the Charlotte Hornets. And now both of his former teams are in the NBA Finals and Grant Williams is on the Charlotte Hornets. Dealing with teammates that are involved in alleged lawsuits for DV, allegedly running over a kid's foot, and a team that would put an 11 year old kid in that type of situation to begin with. And if you don't know what I'm talking about we made a whole video on this absurd Lomelo Ball situation. We'll leave it in the end screen. Make sure you check that one out because it's absurd. The Boston Celtics have frequently been referred to as the San Francisco 49ers of the NBA. It's a team that has a plethora of talent that is constructed really really well. That has two capable stars that have yet to even hit the prime of their careers in Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown but there are questions of whether these two can actually win a championship together. And the Boston Celtics have been very aggressive in trying to answer that question. This past year the Boston Celtics decided to go all in. Degrading one of their core players in Marcus Smart to get back Kristaps Porzingis. They weren't done there because they also traded for Drew Holliday. This team is going to be capped out to the max by the time you get to this offseason. As Jalen Brown signed a 5 year $303.7 million dollar contract last year and this summer Jason Tatum is about to break the bank as well. As he could sign a 5 year $338 million dollar contract extension. You pair that with the fact that the Celtics signed Drew Holliday to a 4 year $135 million dollar contract extension just a month ago. And they currently have Kristaps Porzingis on a 2 year $60 million dollar contract. For the most part you have a team that is fully capped out. This is the core of the Boston Celtics and they're all in on this core and if it doesn't work out then this summer there's a lot of questions that this team is going to have to answer. Jalen Brown even said it himself when he won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award. Saying that we feel like we're a different team than we were last year and the year before that. I know everybody wants to continue to kind of pigeonhole us to what was happening in the past but we've had a different team every single year. Different coaches. We've had like 3 coaches in the last 5 years and still people want to make it seem like it's the same, it's the same, it's the same. Time has gone by, experience has been gained and I think we are ready to put our best foot forward. There is no question the Boston Celtics have a tremendous amount of experience in the post season and this is something that I said would aid them moving down their careers all the way back in Jason Tatum's rookie season when they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. So now that they have this incredibly long and arduous road to the NBA Finals would they finally be able to conclude their season with an NBA championship. Many teams are roasting the Celtics for having what could have been the easiest path to the NBA Finals. But when you compare it to other Eastern Conference teams that made it to the NBA Finals, was it really that easy? The Boston Celtics faced off against the Miami Heat in the first round when the Miami Heat didn't have Jimmy Butler. They would then face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers but the Cavaliers wouldn't have Donovan Mitchell for two of those games. They would then sweep the Indiana Pacers but the Pacers wouldn't have Tyrese Halliburton in two of those games, making it all the way to the NBA Finals. But when you compare it to other teams that had a similar path, I mean in 2013 the Miami Heat faced off against the Chicago Bulls versus Derrick Rose and the Pacers without Danny Granger. In 2015, the Cavaliers played an incredibly injured and battered Atlanta Hawks team in the Conference Finals. In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers made it to the NBA Finals and beat a Golden State Warriors team that lost Andrew Bogut for half the series and lost Draymond Green for Game 5. Steph Curry was playing on a very bad MCL sprain as well during that series. In 2017, Isaiah Thomas was playing with a severe hip injury. And in 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers faced off against the Boston Celtics without Kyrie Irving and without Gordon Hayward. And the Cavaliers barely won in seven games. I'm not saying that Celtics' path to the NBA Finals wasn't easy. I just wanted to play devil's advocate to this point. But at the same time, coming into this season, I felt like the Boston Celtics were the favorite in the East. They had the most continuity, they made sizable upgrades to their roster, and they had the most experience. When you take a look at the Boston Celtics' record, they had 14 more wins than the second place team in the East, the New York Knicks. The Milwaukee Bucks were kind of a shitshow throughout the season. The Philadelphia 76ers were injured throughout the season. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still trying to figure things out. I think a successful coaching change could potentially get there. There really wasn't any other team in the Eastern Conference that I could have saw making it to the NBA Finals this year than the Boston Celtics. Now, is this a testament to how easy their path was? Or is it a testament to their greatness? Or is it a testament to how weak the Eastern Conference has become? You can let me know in the comments section down below. The Boston Celtics are facing off against the Dallas Mavericks, a team that desperately needed this NBA Finals run. A team that has been trying to figure out how to put Luka Doncic in a situation to consistently compete for championships from the moment that they drafted him. Luka Doncic was starting to get this reputation of being just James Harden 2.0, a player that knew how to stuff the stat sheet in a masterful way, but wouldn't be good enough to get you to the NBA Finals. But to the Dallas Mavericks' credit, they did everything they possibly could to get Luka Doncic the help they needed. Starting all the way from trading for Kyrie Irving, to continuing with a strong offseason where they drafted Derek Lively. They did briefly attempt to trade for Grant Williams, but moved on from him when that didn't work. And during the trade deadline, they swung a masterful trade for Daniel Gafford, at Luka Doncic made the most of his strengths and mitigated his weaknesses. But the one storyline that we're all looking forward to in this entire NBA Finals matchup has to be Kyrie Irving's history with the Boston Celtics. Remember, Kyrie Irving about a year and a half ago had a completely different perception about his career. A player that was melodramatic about everything, a player that had everything handed to him, a player that had the career that any basketball player would want, but turned it down. He had the opportunity to play with LeBron James, but because of this one reporter, it seems like he didn't want to be LeBron James' teammate anymore. Tristan called LeBron a great father after the Chicago game. What? Yes. He did. Great father. Oh, great father. Oh, I thought he was... Oh, I'm bad. I got... I interpreted that completely wrong. Okay. I thought you said it was a great father to him. I was like, what? Called him a great father. So what type of parental role has he played for you and your teammates, LeBron? Oh, okay. So you... Yeah, yeah. Parental role? Honestly, I'm, you know, he's... I don't know how to really answer that question. He's been a great leader for us. I have one father. That's my dad, Jrederick Irving. Eventually, he would get traded to the Boston Celtics, where he was going to be the cornerstone of an Eastern Conference superpower and one of the most storied franchises in the NBA, even at some point deciding to commit to the city of Boston. But there will be more spaces up there. Kyrie, how important is it to see? It's, uh, it's quite important and, uh, I appreciate that scout I joined him, but I shared it with some of my teammates as well as the organization and everyone else in Boston. You guys will have me back. I plan on re-signing here next year. Boom! So... But then very shortly after, he started flirting with Kevin Durant. And next thing you know, Kyrie Irving decided to go to Brooklyn to team up with Kevin Durant. And his stint with Brooklyn was very, very interesting. In his preseason return to Boston, he would be caught burning sage at the TD Garden in order to cleanse the energy in the building. And then things would get to a brand new point when the Brooklyn Nets faced off against the Boston Celtics that year in the playoffs. Kyrie Irving accused the Boston Celtics of racism. I mean, it's not my first time being an opponent in Boston, uh, so, you know, I'm just looking forward to competing with my teammates and, um, you know, hopefully we can just keep it strictly basketball. You know, there's no belligerence or any racism going on, subtle racism and people yelling s*** from the crowd. Um, but even if it is, it's part of the nature of the game and we're just gonna focus on what we can control. Is it something you've experienced in Boston before? I'm not the only one that could attest to this, but it's just, you know, it won't, it is what it is. And the Celtics definitely booed Kyrie Irving whenever he took the floor in game three of that series versus Boston. Fans, he played one earlier when there were no fans in the building. This is when he was introduced to the crowd. But that's pretty normal considering the fact that the Celtics gave up Jay Crowder, Isaiah Thomas and assets in order to get him. Considering the fact that this guy was supposed to be your franchise cornerstone and then he just turned his back on you after promising he'd stay. I think it's pretty normal to boo Kyrie Irving in this instance, but Kyrie Irving would escalate this entire beef, stepping on Lucky after a game for victory versus the Celtics, which got a lot of Celtic fans upset. And this was just kick off one of the most exciting rivalries in sports. In the 2022 playoffs, fans would start to cheer Kyrie sucks. And for the most part, that would take us to where we are in this rivalry right now. There wouldn't really be that much between the Celtics and Kyrie Irving because the 2023 season was when Kyrie Irving would get traded to the Dallas Mavericks, and it hasn't become relevant until now. But Celtic fans certainly didn't forget because they chanted Kyrie sucks when these two faced off against each other two months ago. And the fact that these two are facing off against one another in the NBA finals is certainly going to make this way more interesting. As for my personal prediction, Luka Doncic's career so far has him slowly progressing to where he wants to finish and gradually climbing the ladder. For example, during the 2022 season, he finally made it to the Western Conference Finals. He missed the playoffs last year, but he was able to make it to the NBA Finals this year. When you take a look at the Minnesota Timberwolves team, they were the best defensive team in the NBA this year, leading the league in defensive rating, but they were the 16th best offensive team this year. If you compare that to the Boston Celtics, they were the top team in terms of offensive rating, and they were the third best team in terms of defensive rating. They also led the league in net rating. I feel like the combination of Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, and Drew Holliday's experience in the NBA Finals, plus the fact that the Celtics have an all-around better team, is going to result in the Boston Celtics being able to win this series in five games. So that's my personal prediction. I've been wrong before. As a Laker fan, I would prefer that not to happen, but let me know in the comment section down below what your prediction for the NBA Finals is. Aside from that, I'm your boy Mike, and I'm dropping our mic until our next upload.