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The 2024 NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks features plenty of star power.
It includes two first-team All-NBA players in Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Mavs guard Luka Doncic. Celtics guard Jaylen Brown and Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving are All-NBA caliber players, too. Both teams have surrounded their stars with a strong supporting cast.
That said, the Celtics are the favorites to win the Larry O'Brien Trophy, and that's far from a surprise.
They had the best record in the league at 64-18 during the regular season -- seven wins better than any other team -- and they cruised through the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 12-2 record. The C's will have homecourt advantage in the Finals, but they've also won eight straight road playoff games.
Doncic understands the challenge that awaits Dallas in the Finals.
"I mean, they're the best team in the NBA," Doncic said in his press conference Thursday after eliminating the Minnesota Timberwolves from the Western Conference Finals.
"They had by far the best record and they have some incredible weapons on offense and defense. We're gonna have to play really hard and amazing basketball to beat them."
Doncic averaged 35 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists per game in two meetings against the Celtics during the regular season, but the C's won both fairly easily -- a 119-110 win on Jan. 22 in Dallas and a 138-110 victory on March 1 in Boston.
Doncic and Irving will likely score between 50-65 points per game combined in this upcoming series. The real question mark for the Mavericks is whether their role players can step up and be a consistent threat offensively.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals is set for Thursday, June 6 at TD Garden. NBC Sports Boston will have pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of every Finals game.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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