I am telling you now, Adam Silver must use all of his supernatural powers to book a Boston Celtics versus Los Angeles Lakers 2023 NBA Finals showdown!
The Lakers just dethroned the 2021-2022 NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors, in the midst of a season of preseason and pre-trade deadline hell. The Boston Celtics, on the other hand, just took care of the team that had Doc Rivers and the reigning and defending MVP, Joel Embiid.
No offense to the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets fans but while they can play spoiler, this is the best possible scenario to achieve a serious uptick in ratings and online buzz.
As I mentioned, this needs to happen. This match would not only elevate Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart but Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell as well. Furthermore, big-city matches will always draw. Boston isn't New York but combined with Los Angeles and the fact that it's basketball royalty, it feels as if that it needs to happen.
And what better basketball royalty than Bill Russell? His #6 is patched in all of the uniforms and his battles with the Lakers are well-documented.
Most importantly, the last time the Celtics won the title was also the season in which they lost Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach and 80s guard Dennis Johnson. As mentioned, Boston thrives with tradition, and like Russell's teams in the 60s, the current team is built with the maturity of their core.
So yeah, this is the reason why I want the Celtics to battle the Lakers. While facing Lebron James could end up being a bad thing for the Cs (regardless of his age because of his experience and legendary presence), I bet it would be a more memorable matchup.