One half of the NBA Finals is now set. The Golden State Warriors finished off the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night to advance to the Finals for the sixth time in the last eight years.
The Boston Celtics could finalize the other half Friday night, as they have a chance to close out the Miami Heat at TD Garden.
While the Celtics know they can’t take a win for granted -- they won an elimination Game 6 on the road themselves just one round ago -- at least one member of the Warriors is already setting his sights on Boston.
Draymond Green and Steph Curry joined the set of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” after Thursday’s win, and Shaquille O’Neal tried to pressure Green into revealing which Eastern Conference team he’d prefer to face.
While Green wouldn’t answer that, he had no problem saying which team he expects to face.
“If you’re asking me who I wanna play, I’ll tell you who I think we’re gonna play. We’re gonna play Boston. That’s who we’re gonna play,” Green said.
If you believe in bulletin board material, the Heat could certainly make use of Green's proclamation.
Green has been singing the Celtics’ praises for a while on his “Draymond Green Podcast,” including giving Ime Udoka some love for Boston’s midseason turnaround and saying he thinks Jayson Tatum should be the NBA MVP next season.
While he was ultimately cut off by Shaq, Green began doing that Thursday night as well.
“Boston causes problems, especially offensively. Their defense is incredible,” he said.
The Celtics and Warriors split two regular-season meetings this year, with the Warriors winning 111-107 in Boston on Dec. 17 and the C’s winning 110-88 in San Francisco on March 16. Game 1 of the NBA Finals will be Thursday in San Francisco, regardless of when the Celtics-Heat series ends.
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