Enjoy Basketball: Celtics reach NBA Finals, Lakers hire new head coach

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Welcome back to another edition of Enjoy Basketball!

The NBA Finals are set! The Boston Celtics will take on the Golden State Warriors in what should be a chess match. Steve Kerr has proven to be one of the most dominant coaches since the turn of the century, and Ime Udoka is emerging as one of the brightest young minds in the game.

As for the players, experience will be put to the test vs. youth. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are looking to further cement themselves as one of the greatest cores of all time. Meanwhile, nobody on the Celtics had played in a single Finals game.

Warriors fans and Celtics fans have been waiting for this moment for the whole season. One team is hoping to get back to the promised land, while the other will attempt to complete what might be the most incredible mid-season turnaround in NBA history. A true battle.

Before we get to that, we have to talk about how we got here. Last night’s Game 7 between the Celtics and Miami Heat was a slugfest of epic proportions.

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Celtics beat the Heat, advance to NBA Finals

They say the best two words in sports are "Game 7." And while the Celtics technically won in wire-to-wire fashion last night, it felt like the exact opposite of that.

Boston came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. They jumped out to a quick lead before throwing most of it away in the second quarter. What was a 15-point lead at the end of the first was just six by halftime. Jimmy Butler's elite scoring and Kyle Lowry's pesky antics were enough to will Miami back into the game.

For the majority of the contest, it felt like the Heat were in control, despite Boston's constant lead. Every time the Celtics were able to build up some sort of lead, the Heat were right there. They made comeback after comeback after comeback but just couldn't get over the ultimate hump. Miami even cut down the Celtics' lead to two points with under a minute to go, but when Butler tried to be the hero, the shot just didn't fall.

However, one miss should not overshadow the absolutely incredible performance Butler put together. He scored 35 points on 13-24 shooting from the field. And all of that was on the back of an unreal 46-point showing in Game 6. Butler played so well that Tim Bontemps of ESPN gave him his vote for the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. (An award that ended up going to Jayson Tatum.)

Butler and Bam Adebayo combined for 60 points, while the rest of the squad put up 36. For Boston, the trio of Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart had 74 of the Celtics' 100 points. Miami just couldn't find production from anyone outside of their two stars. Meanwhile, the Celtics' elite defense allowed them to ride the offensive wave of their top players.

On January 14, the Celtics were under .500 at 21-22. They are now in the NBA Finals.

P.S. It's impossible not to be happy for Al Horford.

Lakers hire Darvin Ham

The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham as their new head coach. This will be Ham's first head-coaching gig, as he has spent the past four years as an assistant on the Bucks and the five years prior to that with the Atlanta Hawks. All of those years were spent under head coach Mike Budenholzer.

This is a full-circle moment for Ham, as he began his coaching journey as an assistant for the Lakers back in 2011. He spent two seasons with the team before moving on to Atlanta. LeBron James has already signed off on this decision, and it looks like the King got the coach that he wanted.

Zion Williamson cleared to play

According to the New Orleans Pelicans, star forward Zion Williamson has been cleared to play this offseason without any restrictions." If there are no setbacks, this should mean that the young superstar will be ready to go for the start of next season. However, the Pelicans aren't ready to pay him quite yet.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported that, while the Pelicans are willing to offer Williamson a massive deal, they will not guarantee all of it. He said that the Pelicans "are not willing to offer a full five-year guaranteed deal" to the youngster. In all likelihood, that would only come after he proves that he can stay on the court.

Mavericks interested in Zach LaVine

Long-time NBA insider Marc Stein reported that the Dallas Mavericks are weighing the option of "joining the sign-and-trade bidding for the Chicago Bulls' Zach LaVine." After his non-committal exit interview comments from a few weeks ago, rumors have circulated that LaVine may not be heading back to Chicago this summer.

The Mavs were just eliminated in the Western Conference Finals, and with Luka Doncic slowly entering the prime of his young career, putting an All-Star like LaVine next to him could change everything. We've already seen how shot-creators like Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie can help Doncic's success, so just imagine what LaVine could do.

Derrick White: Eliminating release valves and shutting off the water - Mark Schindler (Basketball News)

Heat’s Udonis Haslem explains the biggest misconception about Bam Adebayo’s offensive game - Anthony Chiang (Miami Herald)

2022 NBA Mock Draft: How 3 Trades Could Shake Up the Lottery - Zach Buckley (Bleacher Report)

Big Picture, How Should the Timberwolves Approach This Offseason? - Mike O'Hagan (Canis Hoopus)

The Lakers need to figure out what tense they’re in - Alex Regla (Silver Screen and Roll)

Boston Celtics vs. Golden State Warriors Preview

Since there are no games today (or for the next few days), let's take a brief look at the NBA Finals and some advantages and disadvantages each team has.

Warriors Advantage: Experience

As if this wasn't obvious already. Curry, Thompson, and Green are one of the most experienced trios in NBA history when it comes to the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, nobody on the Celtics has ever made it this far. Tatum is 24, Brown is 25, and outside of 35-year-old Al Horford, everyone on Boston's roster is under 30. Golden State has a huge leg up in this regard.

Warriors Disadvantage: Guarding multiple weapons

This isn't to say that the Warriors are unable to guard multiple great players, but instead, merely pointing out the fact that they haven't had to yet this postseason. They dealt with Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets, Ja Morant's (and Dillon Brooks') Memphis Grizzlies, and Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks. Now, they will have to take on the difficult task of guarding not one, but two of the league's most dynamic perimeter scorers. Expect Tatum, Brown, and the Celtics to viciously attack Curry and Jordan Poole on defense.

Celtics Advantage: Defense

This will always be an advantage for the Celtics. The Warriors were the second-best defensive team in the league this year behind Boston, but the biggest difference is, the Celtics don't really have a weakness. Outside of Payton Pritchard, who doesn't always get regular minutes, there's no one in Boston's rotation that the Warriors can attack one-on-one. Boston is stacked with elite defenders who could give Golden State fits.

Celtics Disadvantage: Collapses

The Celtics are weird. They can start off hot and jump out to a huge lead, but then in the blink of an eye, turnovers and a lack of rebounding allow the opposing team to get right back in the game. Golden State's experience will help them to jump at these opportunities, and if the Celtics are as sloppy as they were against Miami, that will be a major problem.

Since the start of this current Warriors dynasty, the Celtics are the only team to have a winning record against them. However, Golden State just made their sixth NBA Finals in eight years. Both squads are revved up and ready to rumble.

Stephen Curry vs. Jayson Tatum. Jaylen Brown vs. Klay Thompson. Draymond Green vs. Marcus Smart. Jordan Poole, Al Horford, Andrew Wiggins, Robert Williams, and more.

Get ready, basketball fans. The NBA Finals are here. Enjoy them.

That'll be it for me. Thanks for reading. See y'all next time.

- Jack Simone

Last Trivia Answer: Sorry, Utah Jazz fans, but the Jazz were the answer to Friday's trivia question. Utah scored just 54 points in a 1998 NBA Finals game against, you guessed it, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

Trivia Question: For each of the past 75 years, a current/former New York Knicks player has appeared in the NBA Finals. Last season, it was Langston Galloway and Bobby Portis. Many thought the streak was snapped this year when Frank Ntilikina and the Mavs were eliminated, but they are wrong. THERE WILL BE A FORMER KNICK IN THE NBA FINALS ONCE AGAIN! Who is it?