Celtics fans, and frankly, most fans around the NBA, aren’t exactly in love with the Thunder. They’re annoying, they flop a lot on offense and beat people up on defense, they have a zillion draft picks, and maybe most of all, they win. A lot. It has quickly gotten to the point where people want to see them fail.
It’s easy to fall in love with this Spurs team they are facing, and root for the rising alien, Victor Wembanyama, and his team of youngsters to come in and dethrone OKC’s bid for back-to-back titles.
But unfortunately, it brings me no pleasure to report that this may not be the best outcome for Celtics fans, unless you want to risk seeing the Knicks win it all. I, for one, do not. And for that reason, we need to be careful what we wish for in the Western Conference Finals.
Knicks played very well against Spurs
With New York in the driver's seat in the ECF, on the verge of reaching the NBA Finals for the first time this century, we need the best possible opponent waiting to ensure the New York championship drought is extended to 53 years. And it’s clear which team poses the bigger threat to the Knicks.
The Knicks actually fared quite well against the Spurs this season, defeating them in the NBA Cup Final, narrowly losing in San Antonio, and blowing them out in New York. For as great as the Spurs team looks, if they reach the Finals, they’ll be exhausted and decimated from their run and this series with OKC.
Plus, they are still a very young and inexperienced team that doesn’t match up so well with the Knicks, who will be very well-rested and are suddenly looking like a juggernaut.
Thunder have better chance to destroy Knicks
On the other hand, you’ve got the hated Thunder. The reigning champs who have seen it all and done it all. They swept the Knicks this season, and they haven’t lost to New York since 2022. If they can take care of their business in five or six games, they’ll be on almost even rest with the Knicks, they’ll have some time to get healthier, and they should be heavy favorites to take home their second straight championship.
As Celtics fans, we don’t have much going for us at the moment. One thing we cannot risk is for the Knicks to win the title and make things even worse. Their trip to the Finals looks inevitable, and that’s bad enough, but we need the title drought to continue.
It’s not that the Spurs can’t beat the Knicks. They’d likely still be favorites in that matchup, but it would become a far more volatile series and a more realistic possibility. And as sad as that makes me to say, that means, for the next couple of weeks, we’re all Thunder fans. Sigh.
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