NBA FINALS
Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks injury updates ahead of Game 1
A seat at the TD Garden in Boston is currently the hottest ticket in town as the Celtics face the Mavs in Game 1
The Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks are set to meet in the 2024 NBA Finals starting this Thursday at the TD Garden, and the Celtics fans are expectant ahead of a potentially historic series. The Beantown side are currently tied with the Los Angeles Lakers on 17 NBA titles a piece, and a win over Dallas would see the team in green become the most successful franchise in league history.
Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with a team packed full of talent in every department, Boston eased past the competition in the regular season. They went 64-18, taking the one seed in the East, and finished with the top record in the league, which earned them the right to host Game 1 of the Finals at TD Garden.
The Dallas Mavericks finished the regular season as the fifth placed team in the West, but raced up the standings once Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic finally found the chemistry that had been eluding them since the guard moved to Texas in the middle of last season.
Injury concerns ahead of Game 1
Boston come into the opening game boasting a team free of injury and the good news for Celtics fans is the return of Kristaps Porzingis with the Latvian star missing the past 10 games due to a right soleus (calf) strain. The 28-year-old will be ready to play in Game 1, but he’s unsure if he will be operating at 100 percent.
“I did as much as I could to prepare for this moment, but there’s nothing like game minutes and game experience that I’m going to get (Thursday),” Porzingis said. “It will be tough to jump into the Finals like this.”
Dallas doubts
Dallas can’t claim an injury free team ahead of Game 1 but there’s a sliver of hope that Olivier-Maxence Prosper may see some action after his injury status changed from ‘out’ to questionable. The Canadian has been missing from every postseason game so far with an ankle problem, so his upgrade to questionable is a positive step for Mavs fans.
The key to Dallas being competitive in the Finals surrounds the fitness of Slovenian star Luka Doncic. The 25-year-old has been playing through the pain barrier for most of the postseason campaign with both a knee-sprain and an ankle issue hampering the point guard.
As things stand, Doncic is ‘probable’ to see some Game 1 action in Boston despite TNT’s Jared Greenberg revealing recently that the injury that would, under normal circumstances, keep him on the sidelines. “Today, I was told if this were the regular season, he would have been shut down for a minimum of at least two weeks”.