Boston clinched the #1-seed in the East by 14 games and went 12-2 in the first three rounds of the playoffs. On paper, they're one of the most formidable teams to ever make the playoffs.
While their regular season and playoff records are both impressive in a vacuum, we can use the Team Game Finder to look at their stats from both phases combined.
Why go up to 23 losses? Because, unlike Boston, those other records include the Finals. If Boston pulls off a 4-0 sweep, they'd become just the eighth team in the last 50 years to win a Finals and lose 20 games in a season.
The advanced stats make them look even more dominant. In the Team Game Finder, we can get a total net rating for regular season and playoffs combined for every team in the last 40 seasons. This puts Boston in even more elite company.
The only two teams ahead of them are arguably the two best teams of the last 40 years. And, crucially, both won the title.
Dallas Power Duo
Bringing a trophy to Boston won't be easy. On the other side, Dallas have romped through one of the strongest Western Conference Playoff fields we've seen in a while, thanks to the tandem of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.
Having two of the best scorers in the league on your team is always a good starting point for building a Finals-level team, and Luka and Kyrie have traded off incredible scoring games in this playoff run. In fact, Luka ranks second all-time in playoff points per game, behind only Michael Jordan.
We can use the Player Game Finder to look more at Dallas' unique scoring advantage.
This playoff run, the Mavs had 14 games where a player scored 30+, eight by Luka and six by Kyrie. Only eight teams had had 18 games in a playoff run, the number the Mavs would reach if they combine for at least four 30-pointers over the course of this Best of Seven series.
Of that list, the only teams where every game was split between just two players were the 1962 Lakers and the 1992 Bulls, and that Bulls team had 16 30-pointers by MJ and just two by Scottie.
In a very real way, we haven't seen a scoring duo like Luka and Kyrie in the Finals since the 1962 Lakers. That year resulted in one of the most legendary and exciting Finals of all-time, a seven-game slugfest with the Celtics ultimately prevailing over LA. Will history repeat itself?
Matchups to Watch
Using the Versus Finder, we can look at a couple of the key matchups that could decide the series.
Luka Dončić has praised Jrue Holiday in the past, calling him one of the best defenders in the league. It seems likely that Boston will rely on Holiday to slow Luka down to some extent. So how have the two players fared when facing off? Let's look at their head-to-head record and stats since 2020-21.
As you can see, Luka has gotten buckets in their head-to-head matchups, but Jrue has the winning record.
What about another big rivalry, Kyrie Irving vs the Boston fans? Since Kyrie left the Celtics in 2019, there's been no love lost between the star and his former city. Using the Versus Finder, we can look at how Kyrie has done against Boston since leaving the Celtics.
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