Introduction:
With the NBA Playoffs underway, many fans from all around the league have been watching eagerly, patiently waiting to see if it is their turn to watch their hometown team win the famed Larry O’Brien Trophy. If you happen to be a fan who keeps up with the social media side of the NBA, you have likely seen hundreds of predictions on who will win the 2024 NBA Finals. Most of those predictions came pretty early into the playoffs, some before the playoffs even began. That would be because the predictions are supposed to come out then, we are just late. Three Journalism students: Bryant, Ryan, and Weston, have compiled their picks for the 2024 NBA Finals Champion, and they may not be who you expect.
Bryant’s Predictions:
With the first round coming to a close, it was good to see the Celtics take the Heat down 4-1. Despite a pretty clean victory against Miami, the C’s will either be taking on the Orlando Magic or the Cleveland Cavaliers. No matter what I think this will be a good series, but I think Boston comes out on top, likely 4-3. On the other side of the East, the six-seed Indiana Pacers are up against the two-seed NY Knicks. The Knicks have been on fire all season without slowing down, and I see them sweeping the Pacers in a clean 4-0 series. Into the ECF, I have the Celtics and the Knicks. The Celtics recently lost Porzingis, a former Knick himself. This is going to make a huge impact on the performance of the team. I see the Celtics losing this series in a close one, 4-3 Knicks. My obvious pick for the WCF has to be Denver vs. OKC. I have seen many people saying that Denver is just unstoppable, which is true. Despite this, I see OKC taking the series 4-3. Their young roster is very determined to win a championship. My final predictions are going to be the OKC Thunder vs. the NY Knicks. I see this series being very one-sided. I think OKC is going to beat the Knicks 4-2, becoming your 2024 NBA Champions.
Ryan’s Prediction:
Personally, In the 2024 NBA Finals, I have the Boston Celtics winning the entire thing in a game 6 victory over the Denver Nuggets. In the Eastern Conference, there is not one team who can come close to competing with the Celtics. I only see the Celtics coming to a struggle if they are matched up against the New York Knicks because they have been giving us some trouble in the regular season. they are in full control of the East. On the West though multiple teams are fighting to stay alive. The Nuggets dont have a clear shot to back-to-back finals appearances. I think that if they get matched up with the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Minnesota Timberwolves they are going to face some issues. The Denver Nuggets are coming right off of winning the NBA 2023 Finals and have beaten the Celtics in both regular season games this season. With this, I think that the Celtics are going to have to be ready and locked in for the start of game 1, or else they will fall behind and end up losing another NBA championship that they should have. But that was my personal opinion, If we take a look at all the facts, as of right now the most finals perditions are also the Celtics Vs Nuggets, but with OKC’s newly found success they might have a shot. Overall I dont know who is going to win but I am sure hoping it’s the Boston Celtics.
Weston’s Predictions:
After seeing all of the games in the first rounds of the playoffs there is one team that I think will easily win it all and that’s the Boston Celtics. The next series that they are going to play in will be a sweep no matter what team moves on between the Magic or the Cavs. And then the other teams in the eastern conference the Pacers or the Knicks, I still think the Celtics will dominate against them. I’m going to predict that the Celtics will go to the finals, beating either one of those teams. And in the Western Conference, it will come down to the Nuggets and the Thunder. I think that the Nuggets beat out the Thunder and they go to the finals facing against the Celtics. Finally in the last series the Celtics will win in 6 against the Nuggets and will be holding up the championship trophy with derrick white winning the finals MVP.
Other Triton Student Predictions:
We went around and asked some students in our school their predictions on the finals and here is what some had to say, When asked about his thoughts on who will win the finals, Finnley Packer thinks that the Celtics will be matched up with the Timberwolves, with the Celtics taking it in 6. He stated, “Even though the Celtics will win Anthony Edwards will play like the MVP.” Another Triton Senior, Andrew Faloon, shared similar thoughts. He believes the Celtics will win the finals, noting, “All the other teams are in dog fights, while the Celtics are not…” He later follows this quote up by saying, “…the competition seems easy to them.” The last student, senior Simon Bissell says that “Josh Hart going for 30 point triple-double”, in his games versing the Pacers, and he also said “Celtics will probably win versus the Timberwolves in 6 during the NBA finals”, and “Jaylen Brown will win the finals MVP”.
The Boston Celtics are the clear favorites in everyone’s mind that they will host that Larry O’Brien Trophy up in the air, and bring home banner number 18, and another championship to the City Of Champions.
