"NBA Conference Finals Preview: Who Will Deliver on the Biggest Stage?"
The 2020 NBA Conference Finals have officially arrived and are sure to be historic. Four teams remain in the battle for the NBA title, with two of them having made the playoffs through the play-in tournament. On the West side, the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who advanced through the play-in tournament, will be going head-to-head against the number one seed Denver Nuggets, who have the league's best record. In the East, eighth-seeded Miami Heat, who also made it to the playoffs via the play-in, will face the Celtics, coming off of a historic one-game playoff series win against Philadelphia.
"The Heat and Celtics are no strangers at this point in their recent playoff rivalry," said Tim Bontemps of ESPN. "If Butler's body cooperates, he is good enough to make this series competitive."
The primary storylines and matchups to watch for are between Denver's MVP center Nikola Jokic and LA's starAnthony Davis, and between Miami's Jimmy Butler and Boston's Jayson Tatum. Said Kevin Pelton of ESPN, "If Davis can be effective on both ends of the floor, the Lakers have a chance to win the series. But if Jokic can neutralize Davis or tire him out while chasing him around, the Nuggets should advance." If Jokic can lead his team to a Finals victory, he is sure to cement his place as one of the top players in the league. The winner of the Tatum/Butler showdown could very well determine the victor of the Eastern Conference. Who will triumph? Keep an eye on the match-ups and storylines to find out!